TEACHER INFORMATION

SCHOOL REGISTRATION

STUDENT REGISTRATION

WBRSF participants must register using our online registration system. Students may do this entirely from home (with the assistance of their parents) or you may request a password from the WBYSF and manage your students’ online registrations yourself.

All school or classroom science fairs that will send finalists to the Wood Buffalo Regional Science Fair must submit a School Fair Registration Form. The information contained on this form is required to determine how many finalists from your fair will be eligible to attend the Regional Fair. Please ensure that your students have read our Fair Rules and Safety Regulations before registering. Participants entering projects which include experiments or studies using humans (this includes surveys); live animals; recombinant DNA; viruses; human or animal DNA, tissues or bodily fluids; or potentially pathogenic organisms are required to read our Human Subject and Animal Use Guidelines and fill out an Application to Perform Research with Human Subjects or an Application to Perform Research with DNA Biological Agents or Animals. Approval for these projects must be obtained from the WBRSF Safety and Ethics Committee before any experimentation or research begins. An Informed Consent Form must be issued to all human subjects participating in experiments, studies, or surveys.

The online registration system will generate a consent form that must be printed off and signed by the participant’s parent/guardian and teacher. This form and the $15 participant registration fee must be received by the WBYSF by the indicated deadline. It is recommended that school fair organizers collect these forms and fees from their finalists.

JUDGING

The judging process at the Wood Buffalo Regional Science Fair is similar to that used at the Canada-Wide Science Fair. Participants will be visited by a minimum of three judges over the course of the judging period. Each judge will spend approximately 10-20 minutes with the participant(s) to assess their knowledge of the topic they have presented. Judges will visit several projects and rank these projects based on the characteristics outlined in our judging rubrics. At the end of the judging period, the WBRSF Judging Committee will total up the rankings for each project and determine the top three projects for each age division. (Special Award winners are determined by an independent panel of judges).

School fairs are not required to follow the WBRSF judging methodology or use the WBRSF judging rubrics. Many fairs, for instance, choose their winners based on peer evaluations with great success. It is highly recommended, however, that finalists are chosen based on the same basic criteria used by the WBRSF and that these criteria are made known to the students before they begin their projects.

Students should keep a logbook to organize their notes and reference material and maintain records of their experimental procedures and research activities. Judges may ask to see these rough notes. Students may use their own notebook or three ring binder, or download and print off a Science Fair Project Logbook.

Judging Rubric – Elementary (PDF)

Judging Rubric – Junior-Senior (PDF)

FAIR AND PROJECT ASSISTANCE

Judges and other volunteers may be available through the WBYSF to assist at your school or community science fair. Students which require technical assistance, access to specialized equipment, or mentorship may wish to take advantage of opportunities available at Keyano College. Please contact us for further details or to promote your fair on our website.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Science Fair Tips for Teachers and Parents

Steps to a Successful Science Fair Project (PowerPoint)

The Science Fair Guide from the original “Fort McMurray Regional Science Fair” (1979-1992) is a great place to start learning about project-based science.

There are a number of helpful resources on the internet to help teachers plan and organize their own science fairs.

“Science Buddies” offers many free resources for teachers on their website, including guides on how to run a science fair, judging rubrics, and worksheets.

Science Foundation BC has an excellent guide to organizing a “science celebration”, an event in which students work on science projects and then use their projects to teach their classmates. This is a non-competitive approach to project-based learning where the focus is on group learning and peer evaluation.

Please visit the sites on our links page for more tips and ideas for your students.

Teachers