Eligibility

The Data Jam Competition is open to all current middle and high school students (grades 6-12) attending school in the Northeastern U.S.

Previous Entrants

Previous entrants are encouraged to compete again, as long as they meet the above student eligibility requirements. Students are welcome to use the same dataset(s) they used in previous years, however, they must create a new project for the competition. Previously entered projects are ineligible.

Team Advisors

Participation in the Data Jam Competition requires coordination by a responsible adult who agrees to facilitate and validate student participation. Middle and high school (grades 6-12) teachers of all subject areas are encouraged to get their students involved. Adult advisors can be teachers, parents, guardians, or other mentors.

Teams

All projects for the Data Jam Competition are entered by teams. There are two types of teams that may enter: small teams (consisting of one to six students) or class teams (consisting of entire classes or grade levels).

Small Teams (1-6 Students)

Multiple project entries may be submitted from the same class. This means that a single class may be divided into several groups, with each group submitting their own project entry. Each team may only submit one project entry.

Multi-grade teams will be categorized according to the grade of the highest-level student. This means that if one team consists of three 7th grade students and one 9th grade student, the team will be categorized as a “high school” entry.

Class Teams

Teachers who wish to compete in the Data Jam Competition with a whole class or grade level can enter their students as a class team. This means that the entire class/grade will submit one project for the competition. If the creative data display shows a student's likeness, we will not be able to share any videos/photos of their project unless all members of the class have submitted consent forms.

Registration Period

Registration for the Data Jam Competition is required using the form. All registrations must be completed no later than Dec 15. ***Team information will be submitted during project submission, not during registration.

Acceptable Data

We have compiled Northeast US ecosystem data from a variety of sources for your use. The data are posted on the Datasets section of this website. You are welcome to use additional data from other sources, but it must be approved by NES-LTER personnel before the registration deadline. Outside data must be from a vetted resource. Fabrication of data will result in elimination from the Data Jam Competition.

Project Entry Period

Project entries for the Data Jam Competition must be submitted online no later than 11:59pm EST the final project submission date.

Winner Notifications

Winners for the merit prizes will be contacted via their team advisor’s provided e-mail address.

Student Privacy

Student privacy is important to us. All adult team advisors must receive parental/guardian consent forms for permission of student participation and the release of limited personally identifiable student information (i.e., student name, grade level and gender, school name, hometown, photographs, video or audio files of the student, and project entry). These consent forms must be completed and signed for each participating student and for ALL team members.

Team advisors are asked to handle the distribution and collection of parental/guardian consent forms for their student participants. Advisors may use the digital form (https://tinyurl.com/NES-DJ-PermissionForm) or printable form. Receipt of the digitally signed form will be confirmed by email to the listed teacher/advisor. Completed print forms will need to be uploaded along with final project submissions. These forms may be scanned or photographed.

Plagiarism

Project entries cannot include plagiarized work. Plagiarism is considered the deliberate copying of someone else’s thoughts, ideas, expressions, words, artistic expressions, or scientific work without formally acknowledging its source. Plagiarism includes project entries that are comprised substantially of someone else’s work, copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit, the failure to put quotation marks around unmodified content that was copied from an outside source, and the use of photos, graphs, charts, or other images without acknowledging their source. Project entries that include plagiarized content will be eliminated from the competition. We recommend teams working together to help each other avoid plagiarism. The best way to ensure your work is original is to be creative!

This competition requires students to use information that is not their own, and thus merits increased diligence to proper source acknowledgement. Students will use data (scientific work) that has been collected by a group of researchers. Students are also welcome to use any of the images provided on the “Data Sets” portal/webpage in their project entries. In order to avoid plagiarism, students should be sure to properly cite all sources of information for content that isn’t their own original work. This includes noting the data source and the sources of any images copied or modified.

Citations

All project entries must have a complete reference list of all resources used. Any standard citation form is permissible (APA, MLA, etc.), but the same form should be used for all citations for a given project entry.

Publicity & Rights

By entering a project into the Data Jam Competition, the project creator(s), parent(s)/guardian(s), and the team advisor are requested to accept, by default, a Creative Commons BY License unless otherwise specified.

The NES-LTER Schoolyard may post information about the Data Jam Competition on the NES-LTER website, in the NES-LTER annual report, in the local newspapers, and on the WHOI and LTER social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) sites. Project entries may be published without compensation through any or all of the above sources in whole or in part. Submitting a project entry does not guarantee it will be publicized. We will not publicize any student information without prior parental/guardian consent.

Additional Disclaimers

1. It is the responsibility of each participant and team advisor to obtain and read these rules and regulations for the Data Jam Competition.
2. The NES-LTER Schoolyard will not be responsible for any claims, costs, liabilities, damages, expenses, or losses arising from 1) The NES-LTER Schoolyard’s use of project entries, 2) the participants’ involvement in the competition, 3) technical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to, computer viruses or equipment malfunctions, 4) travel to and from the teacher workshops and other related activities, 5) the use of prizes, and 6) any events outside the NES-LTER Schoolyard's reasonable control.
3. The NES-LTER Schoolyard reserves the right to reject any project entry for any reason and at any time, at its own discretion.
4. The NES-LTER Schoolyard may refuse to award a prize if a winning participant does not follow proper registration and project entry procedures, or these rules and regulations.
5. The NES-LTER Schoolyard is not responsible for any technical failures that may affect participation in the Data Jam Competition.

Questions?

See the FAQ's page or direct any other questions regarding the Data Jam Competition to abrickley.edu at gmail.com