Main Menu:
[Home] [Science Fair]
[Inventors
Program] [Mission Statement] [Administration] [How
You Can Help]
[ Awards ]
Judging
School Invention Fair
Tips
One of the most challenging
aspects of participating in the Edison Young Inventors Program will be holding
a school invention fair. This is often scheduled in conjunction with the
school’s science fair. Here are a few pointers for your consideration.
Contagious enthusiasm is not
just a child’s response to the program. This is a wonderful opportunity to
share with your colleagues, parents, businesses and organizations. The human
and material resources needed to conduct the fair will be proportional to the
number of student entries.
Permission is given to copy
any part of the program guidelines for distribution to the school’s students,
parents, volunteers and sponsors. The following tasks will require your
attention:
Determine
the scale of your school’s involvement. Will one or more classes or grade
levels participate?
Distribute
program guidelines and invitations for sponsorship of materials, printed forms
and awards.
Select
an invention fair site based on the projected number of participants. With a
little planning, classroom(s), cafeterias, gymnasiums or multipurpose rooms can
all serve well. Consider the time of day for set up and judging. Most school
fairs have been conducted during the morning hours with set up completed the
afternoon before the judging.
Arrange
for student exhibits to be placed on tables or counters, preferably not floors.
Floor-level displays are hard on judges and should only be used when space is
unavailable.
All
exhibits shall be identified by a number and have a sign-off card to be
initialed by the reviewing judge(s). Request judges enter the exhibit
numbers on each form as they go.
Individual
schools ‘Certificates of Participation’ are suggested to reward each student
inventor’s effort.
Enlist
judges from businesses, organizations, as well as impartial administrators,
teachers, and parents. Teachers and parents of exhibitors will not be
eligible to judge a Regional Fair. Provide a written review of
the judging process in advance or, optionally, offer a 30 - 45 minute review
session.
Plan for
hospitality and refreshments for the judges and volunteers. This has varied
from a continental breakfast table to a buffet lunch. Time constraints will
limit the number of judges enjoying a buffet lunch.
Expect
an average of 8 minutes to judge each exhibit Interviews are optional
at school fairs. In general, the comfort zone for judging is about two to three
hours. The ideal number of judges per exhibit: 3.
Judges
may be assigned specific exhibits by number but this inhibits flexibility. What
has worked very well is to hand out unnumbered judging forms requesting three
things from judges: a) judging groups spread out and not bunch up in one area
b) avoid any hint of favoritism and c) verify having judged an exhibit by
placing the judges’ group number on a designated card at each exhibit.
Judges
are encouraged to consider teachers’ input for ‘exceptional’ or ‘absentee
student' displays. Circumstances will arise that warrant fairness along
with flexibility.
A few
tips for school fairs: Following the judging process, staple together the
judging forms for each exhibit judged. Average the scores from each page. Place
this averaged score on the top of the front sheet in a circle. Preferably, keep
each classroom separate and place the forms in sequential order with the
highest scores in each group being on top. (Handheld calculators and staplers
come in handy)
Keep
one ‘winners’ spot open for the top score in each class. This allows for all
classes to have at least one student represented in the final results. Select
the remaining highest scores across all classes to fill the remaining number of
open winner positions. This may be the number invited to regional competition
or just intra-school competition.
Finally,
place all group winners together in sequential order, from highest to lowest.
Determine 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners overall. Keep in mind, it is not
unusual to have to go back over the top scoring exhibits to break ties and
select the final order of winners.
Judging
groups may vary from being easy to hard on scoring. A few suggestions might
smooth this out. Try to have both sexes represented in each group in case a
project relates more to one gender than the other.
When
more than one school competes at the same event, try to include an
"equalizing factor" for judging groups. This computer-generated
factor determines the ‘degree of deviation’ for each judging group from the
overall average. An adjustment factor is derived and applied to each group’s
top five selections. Overall winners can then be determined on a more
equal basis.
If
there is an opportunity to recognize special categories (most humanitarian,
best educational, . . .), a ‘worthy of special recognition’ designation
can be included on the judging form and noted during the tallying process.
Recognize
your school's fair winners who will be advancing to the Regional Fair
Competition.
A Thank
You Letter to judges and volunteers is appreciated and can encourage future
participation.
Factoring
in Fairness
It should go without saying
‘every child who willingly participates in the Young Inventors Program is a
"two thumbs-up" winner’. Just going through the invention process
offers many rewards in and of itself. However, recognizing the most outstanding
individuals is an essential but problematic aspect of the competition.
The very idea of judging work
performed by creative minds is wrought with personal influences and prejudices.
Many examples come to mind where the ‘best and the brightest’ of their time
cast down breakthrough inventions and discoveries as mere folly only to be
proven wrong. Is it reasonable to think a fair and equitable system of
selecting outstanding entries is even possible? After all, even ‘the best and
brightest’ have missed the mark!
We can all be humble to the
reality that errors in judgment will be made. The greater purpose of this
program is to provide each child with an understanding of the ‘Power of One’,
placing a priority on honesty, integrity and trustworthiness, and providing the
lifelong tools to succeed.
The judging process is
dependent on a large number of volunteers from diverse backgrounds. Pertinent
information is provided to all, in advance, with a general session review prior
to the competition. Realistically, no one individual can be expected to agree
100% with the opinions of all the other judges. To minimize this difference,
judges serve in groups.
The number who show up the day
of the event along with the total number of entries to be judged and the time
constraints determine the number of judges assigned to each group. Even with
commitments, it can be surprising how many volunteers have last minute
conflicts. Flexibility must be built into the system to accommodate for this.
Ideally, each entry is
reviewed by a group of three judges. To reduce gender bias, groups are each
assigned both men and women. Judges are urged to avoid any hint of favoritism
by excusing their entire group from judging an entry where any one member of
the group has had prior contact with the student inventor.
Each entry’s score is placed into a computerized program
along with the judging group’s number. A final committee reviews the top
entries of each and every group to verify scoring similarities and
differences. Additionally, an average score is computed for each group.
This is compared to the overall average score for all groups. General
inequities may then be corrected by the committee with the help of a weighted
factor based on the computer-generated findings.
It is very important to remind
ourselves entries are judged on more than just the idea itself. Thoroughness of research, marketing,
and record keeping as well as creativity in presentation are all taken into
account.
Remember to celebrate each and
every child’s accomplishments. Be enthusiastic, encouraging and understanding.
Then everyone is a winner!
Judging
Guidelines
Intraschool judging need not
be as in depth compared to the interschool competition (regional).
Even though the ideal number
of judges per exhibit is three, this is not possible in many school fairs. No
need to worry. If only a few judges are involved, walk through the exhibit area
and make a preliminary selection of the projects. Spend more time reviewing the
selected projects and narrow down the number. If time allows, conduct
interviews of these students to verify important concerns. Ideally, have at
least one or more student ‘winners’ from each and every class participating.
This sends the message to each classroom that they are all valued for their
work! Select additional Regional Fair entries from the top scores from all the
participating classes combined.
Remember, students may have
help from any number of people. This is OK as long as the student gives
credit to the person/people in his or her log book.
The Six
Important Areas to be Judged
1) Originality is
a challenging area to judge. Reward the student inventor for what is
believed to be original,
The
student and judge may or may not be aware of the existence of this invention
and consider it to be unique and patentable. If the judge recognizes the invention
already exists, is it common enough the student should have easily found
it in searching? Is the student’s approach an improved version? All inventors can
face the possibility that other creative, smart people have already realized
their idea. The student is asked to show research to help prove his or her
invention’s uniqueness.
2) Usefulness
takes into account two important aspects of any idea.
a) Safety and the liability of an invention must be carefully
considered.
Does
the student understand the safety issues relating to their invention.
Many important inventions have a high risk factor. In the school setting, students
will not be allowed to enter the competition with inventions of destruction or
inventions having illegal ramifications. Entries must have a positive,
constructive benefit.
Inventions
that have a beneficial purpose with potentially detrimental side effects have a
higher risk liability but are still allowable with teacher consent.
b) Effectiveness will be the judge’s interpretation as
to how well the invention relates to its actual purpose.
3) Research reflects
the thoroughness and comprehensiveness of the student’s efforts to learn if
their idea is unique and has market potential.
Do
similar products exist? How does this invention differ? If the student finds
the invention already exists, do they improve on it in a significant way?
Evidence of research must be demonstrated verbally and in writing or in
illustrated form.
(Students
are expected to use any and all approaches not having a restrictive fee
attached to it. Paying for a patent search is not expected but
trying to perform a patent search on their own or with assistance will be
looked upon favorably. Keep accurate records of this in the logbook. )
Scientific research should be
taken into account in cases where it would be a factor. Science Fair projects
that are co-registered in the Inventors Fair will be required to show both
forms of research.
4) Marketability has five important areas for the
inventor to understand.
- It shows an inventor’s understanding of
the value of intellectual property protection. (Patent,
trademark, copyright, trade secret).
- It
asks the inventor to investigate different materials and costs and even
manufacturing techniques. (Stamping, molding, extrusion, vacuum
forming, etc.) Younger grades would need only consider what types of materials
would be preferable.
-
What options exist for financing the invention to bring it to the
market? (Savings, family, friends, investors, banks, government assistance). Is
licensing an idea something the student understands?
-
How do you price your invention? (Production costs, packaging,
advertising, manufacturer-distributor-retail markup.)
-
Who will the product appeal to? (Target markets - stores, catalogs, TV,
Internet, etc.)
5) Log Book Valuable proof of an inventor’s idea! In real life,
the logbook is more valuable if it is a bound notebook with all entries in
chronological order. (Ringed or clip-in binders may be used for the Young
Inventors Fair.)
The
notebook demonstrates all the steps taken, all the help received and
dates each was performed.
Receiving
help from parents, teachers, friends or businesses is acceptable as long
as it is recorded in the logbook and credit is properly given to those
assisting. If help was received from others, look for explanations of what the student
learned from this. It is very important that the student understands the information
entered in the log book.
6) Presentation This
category consists of three parts: the oral interview, the model or
illustration, and the overall table display.
The
oral interview gives the inventor a chance to ‘sell’ their idea to the
judge!
Creating
an invention is exciting. This is an opportunity for the student to show his or
her invention and what they have learned about the process of inventing. Time
may not allow for the judge to conduct a thorough interview on all aspects of
the student’s knowledge and understanding. A judge can make an informed
decision by asking questions that reveal the student’s knowledge based on the
depth of the information the student has presented.
The student
should be able to explain the model (prototype) or illustration and if
possible, demonstrate a working knowledge of it. Assistance in making the
invention is acceptable. Remember, verify proper credit given to people who
offer assistance by entries in the log book!
The
same applies to the display as with the model or illustration. Assistance is
permitted if credit is given and recorded in the logbook. Judges should note
students showing exceptional talent in making their own models,
illustrations and displays could receive special consideration.