Running a Successful School Fair
Below are a few key things to keep in mind when running a school fair. Please take time to review the hyperlinks as they share valuable information.
- Follow the instructions on the RRSEF website in order to have your fair registered and your students prepared.
- Students should complete the necessary paperwork prior to experimentation in order to advance to RRSEF and GSEF.
- Review the ISEF's FAQ's so that you can help your students avoid common mistakes.
- Help students Prepare, Present & Publish their work!
- Recruit Judges - Start early with the goal that each judge evaluates 10-12 projects. Keep in mind that you want your judges to feel valued but not overwhelmed. Also remember that approximately 10% of your scheduled judges will have to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. A formula to claculate the number of judges you need can be found below.
- Judges needed = (Number of projects x 4) / 10 * This formula accounts for 10% of judges cancelling due to unforeseen circumstances.
- Students love to share their work, and feedback is valuable in teaching and preparing students for future events. It is recommended that each project be judged a minimum of 3 times at the school level.
- Organize your fair - Use Microsoft Excel to layout your fair. Every project should be assigned a project number and the judges should have project numbers pre-assigned.
- Collecting scores and scoring projects quickly and efficiently is a challenge. One option is to use a product like Google Forms which would allow judges to score projects electronically. The rubric can be input electronically. This will allow the fair director to download the data as a spreadsheet, sort, and score. Feedback can also be gathered and distributed using the mail merge function in MS word. An example of a Google Form School Fair judging sheet is provided below.