General Information For Judges

Judging Information

Welcome

Thank you for taking time to participate in our science fair! The students have put in a lot of hard work and are really looking forward to sharing their projects, as well as receiving feedback and reviews. Sharing your expertise with us will help our teachers and students improve the quality of the fair each year.

Please review the following goals for this science fair.

  • Make the experience positive for each student; every student should come away with a sense of accomplishment.

  • Students should perform every step of the scientific method.

  • Teach students to teach themselves.

  • Give students the opportunity to communicate what they have learned to others.

  • Encourage student accomplishment by offering public recognition and rewards.

  • Support students in applying what they’ve learned in other classes.

  • Have fun!

We appreciate your willingness to do the difficult job of determining winners for our science fair. Below is a list of key responsibilities, a list of FAQs, and advice on judging effectively.

Key Responsibilities

  1. Get your clipboard, judging scorecards, and other supplies from the fair organizer.

  2. Know who the event volunteers are—they are available to direct you to the right projects.

  3. Completely fill out the judging rubric and scorecard for every project. If a project does not have something that is listed on the scorecard, be sure to circle “0.”

  4. If the scorecard does not already have student name and project information filled out, enter those details yourself.

  5. Please tally the score at the end of each scorecard.

  6. The comments section on the scorecard is helpful for two reasons:

    • Jot down notes or things that stood out to you, because by the time you get to the last project, you might have forgotten your reasoning for doing something the way you did on the first project.

    • Important Note: You should write your comments with the students in mind, as the judging scorecard will be made available to them. Think of it as writing comments on a paper they’ve submitted for grading. If you write your comments as possible improvements, then you will probably have the proper tone for constructive feedback and also remind students of what they found lacking in the project.

    We acknowledge there will be projects that you might want to linger at, but please try to spend the same amount of time on each project. You should allocate your time wisely or you will not finish on time or have to rush through projects. We want to make sure each student’s project is judged fairly. 

Again, thank you so much for volunteering to be a part of our science fair! We truly appreciate your help and support within our school! General Information - For Judges - PDF