Judging Interview

Students will be interviewed by a team of two to four judges. The same team of judges will interview all of the students competing in each category, or category section. All members of each judging team will be knowledgeable in the category which they are judging. Students and teachers should be aware, however, that research methods and equipment may vary in corporate settings from those found in the academic world. For example, corporate scientists may not use Calculator Based Labs.

The judges will have been given the opportunity to read and rate the Synopses or Abstract the week before the Fair, if at all possible. They will have taken part in an orientation session the morning of the Fair and will have previewed the exhibits prior to the interview. They will have been instructed to spend approximately the same amount of time with each exhibitor and that a main focus for evaluation should be the project's presentation and the knowledge of the exhibitor about the project, as evidenced by the interview. Most interviews will last about 15 minutes.

It is also important in the judging of a project to determine how much guidance was provided to the student in the design and implementation of his or her research. When research is conducted in an industrial or institutional setting, the student should have the Intel ISEF Form 1C, that provides an opportunity for the mentor or supervisor to discuss the project. Judges should review this information in detail when evaluating research.

The following questions from Students and Research: Practical Strategies for Science Classrooms and Competitions will be provided to the judges as a basis for asking questions. Although each team of judges may modify the list, knowing the answers to these questions will be an asset during the interview.

Background Knowledge

• Why did you decide on this topic?
• What is the purpose of your project?
• What library information did you find that was helpful?

Experimental Design

• What was your hypothesis?
• What variable did you intentionally change?
• What response did you observe or measure?
• What did you intentionally keep the same?
• What group did you compare the others against? Why?
• How many times did you repeat the experiment?

Materials and Methods

• What materials did you use?
• What steps did you follow in conducting the experiment?
• If you had a mentor, in what ways did the mentor assist you?

Results-Conclusion

• What results did you find?
• How did your results relate to your original hypothesis?
• What conclusion did you make?
• If you conducted the experiment again, what would you do differently?
• What additional experiments would you suggest?
• Which groups in the community would be interested in your experiment?
• What recommendations would you make to these groups?
• What was the most important thing you learned from the experiment?

Judges will be assessing how well the student has mastered and followed the scientific process, and will also be evaluating the exhibit on the following:

1. Creativity: unusual question, understanding of background information, use of materials, original display, etc.,
2. Sophistication: unusual research design, knowledge of subject relative to age and school resources, etc.;
3. Display: attractive and legible, accurate, consistent with the competition's regulations.