Science Fairs: Who Judges Student Work? (continued)

I have written this out so when schools ask me to judge they will understand how I see science fairs. I will be happy to assist but I won't be "The Judge". Keep me informed of how your rubric is coming. I will also be happy to work with your committee. Your school is taking some big, bold moves to make the science fair a good educational experience for the children, faculty and community and that's why LITES wants to support you.

normanb

Norm,

This week, following your strategy to deal with judging of projects, I gave my students a blank rubric and asked them to list the features of good science projects. Since they had never created a rubric before, they did not come up with a complete heirarchy, but they did come up with some solid ideas for what makes an outstanding project. They also got the idea that they would be judging their own work. My second class seemed to especially like that idea. I took their ideas, added a few of my own, and organized it into this rubric. I gave it to them Friday, as they began working on their experiments. I am hoping this will give them a checklist so they can monitor their own work. I told them the 4's and 5's will go to the District fair. Thanks very much for the suggestion.

Student Generated Science Project Rubric

This rubric is a rating guide. As you prepare your project, compare your work to these checklists. When we are finished, we will judge our own projects. The best ones will go to the District Science Fair!

5.  An outstanding project. To get a 5 your project should have:

• An original, creative question
• A good hypothesis (answering your question)
• Test all possible answers to your question
• Do a real experiment, including a control
• A working model of your experiment in your display
• Good measurements and a great graph
• Report on research/background information about topic.
• Lettering sharp and clear. Big, bold title.
• Beautiful, colorful, neat display

4.  A strong project. To get a 4 your project should have:

• A good question
• A good hypothesis (answering your question)
• Test all possible answers to your question
• Do a real experiment, including a control
• A working model of your experiment in your display
• Good measurements and a good graph
• Report on research/background information about topic.
• Lettering sharp and clear. Big, bold title.
• Colorful, attractive, neat display

3.  A good project. To get a 3 your project should have:

• A good question
• A good hypothesis (answering your question)
• A working model of your experiment in your display
• Good measurements and a good graph
• Lettering sharp and clear. Big, bold title.
• Colorful, attractive, neat display

2.  An OK project, weak in some areas. To get a 2 your project should have:

• A good question
• A good hypothesis (answering your question)
• Some illustration or model showing what you did
• Measurements and a graph
• A neat display

1.  A project weak in many areas. To get a 1 your project should have:

• A question
• A hypothesis (answering your question)
• Some illustration or model showing what you did
• Measurements and a graph
• A neat display