SEFMD Frequently Asked Questions (revised 2/29/2012)
For the 2011-2012 year, each question that is asked will be added to this FAQ list. Hopefully, this page will answer most of the questions in the future
School Affiliation
Q. Why does a school need to affiliate
with the Science Fair and why is there a charge associated with it?
A. The affiliation agreement provides us with the contact information for
the school and provides us with various options that a school may use while
accepting entry forms for the Science Fair. The affiliation fee is $50.00
(reduced to $25.00 if the information is received by December 1) and is to offset the cost of mailings to
the school and to keep the cost of the actual entry form processing at
$5.00/project ($10.00 for team members). School affiliation forms that are
received AFTER December 1 will need to pay the full amount.
Q. The school affiliation form asks for names
of the Institutional Review Board. What happens if those names are not
supplied?
A. If a student enters a project that would have required a school IRB to
review the project, the project will be disqualified and not permitted to
compete.
Q. We have a home school with several
students. How do we affiliate?
A. You would follow the normal 'school affiliation procedure', except that
the form must be submitted manually (via fax or regular mail). The cost
for a home school affiliation is $50.00
Q. I am an individual student that wants to
enter the Science Fair (and live within the tri county area), but my school does
not want to 'affiliate'. Can I still participate?
A. Please contact us to work with you to convince the school to affiliate
with the Science Fair. If the school still refuses to affiliate, YES, you
can enter directly into the Science Fair. The school and teacher would
forfeit any and all awards that it may receive because of your achievements.
The cost of individual affiliation is $50.00 (plus a $5.00 entry fee for an
individual project or $10.00 for a team project). It would actually be
CHEAPER to have the school affiliate!
Project Display Board Layout/Setup
Q. What is the maximum size of the display
board?
A. For Junior Division (6th-8th grade), the maximum size is: 36"
wide (side to side), 24" deep (front to back), 108" high (floor to top)
For Senior Division (9th-12th grade), the maximum size is: 48" wide (side
to side), 30" deep (front to back), 108" high (floor to top).
If the project is resting on a table, the height of the table is 36", so the
maximum height would be 108" - 36" or 72"
Q. What is the order of information that
should be on the display board? Where do we put our conclusions?
A. There is no defined layout for the display board. It
is totally up to the student to design a display board that best articulates
information about the project.
Award and Project Pickup after the Science Fair
Q. I can not make it to Cobo Center during
the scheduled time for project and award pickup on Saturday due to (any reason).
Can I pick up the project earlier (on Friday) or later on Saturday/Sunday
A. The project removal date is Saturday and there are no exceptions.
Our donors have contributed significant dollars with the understanding that all
projects will be displayed during the public viewing hours. The project
pickup date/times are posted. If a project is not picked up during that
time by the student, parent, teacher, or a friend, it will be discarded.
Q. I was not able to retrieve my project
during the time period specified and understand that it was discarded. Can
I obtain copies of the awards that I received.
A. We can mail you the certificate and/or
professional awards that you received THAT WE STILL HAVE for a small fee
according to the following. Frequently, professional award organizations
place their awards directly on or by the projects. We do not retrieve
these awards after the fair. Payment should be sent to the Science
Fair office (PO Box 158, Farmington, MI 48332-0158) with your written
request.
Certificate -
$5.00
Professional
Awards (various) - $5.00
Q. I received my awards but lost them (the dog
ate them, or any other reason)
A. See question above. Duplicate awards are available (if we
still have them) for the same small fee.
Q. There is a spelling error on my
certificate. How do I get a replacement certificate.
A. Spelling errors that are identified during (or before)
project checkout will be corrected and sent out at no charge. Spelling
errors and corrections that are identified after the project checkout will be
charged a small fee of $5.00.
Entering on-line and payment processing
Q. My student received a rejection
code of 'V'. What does that mean?
A. A rejection code of 'V' means the abstract
is too verbose! It should not be a detailed procedure of the project, it
should just be a summary of about 500 words.
Q. Why would a person receive a 'REJ-Z' if they entered on-line?
A. If the project involves the use of humans
(taste tests, behavioral tests, etc) and the school does not have a functioning
IRB (Institutional Review Board) as established with the affiliation agreement,
the project is rejected. Each school must have a functioning IRB and
complete the appropriate forms (Junior and Senior division) for any projects
involving the use of human subjects.
Q. When a student submits an entry form
on-line, the confirmation page gives a status. What are the various status
codes and how are they determined?
A. The status will be 'I' (Incomplete or
In-Process) until the student 'finalizes' his/her entry. Once the form is
'finalized', it is then considered a valid entry and changes are not permitted.
If the school elects to review all the projects, the status then becomes 'P' for
Pending (teacher review). If the school elects to 'automatically process'
entries as they are accepted, the status may be 'A' (Accepted), 'S' (SRC
review/hold-manual decision required), 'R' (rejected)
Q. Why would a student receive a status code
of 'S' (SRC review/hold) during the on-line process?
A. If any of the SRC boxes are checked
that require a prior SRC review OR the abstract contains any suspect words, the
project must be reviewed manually.
Q. As a teacher, I have noticed that several
students have entered on-line without my permission and do not recommend the
projects for competition at Cobo. How do I make sure that these students
are not considered for competition?
A. The contact person of the school (or
their designee) may use the teacher modify/delete module to review the status of
all entries from the school and change the project status of each project.
This module is used to move a student's project status from 'P' (pending) and to
actually delete a project. It is selected from the main menu,,Entry Form
Info --> On-Line Entry --> and then selecting Teacher Approve/Delete entries.
Q. Can I pay for the entry fees with a
credit card? How do I determine how much the school owes?
A. YES - We WILL accept credit cards
(Visa and Master Card) for payment this year. To determine the amount that
is owed (and actually make a credit card payment), use the main menu and select:
Entry Form Info --> On-Line Entry --> and then select the option to 'Review and
Pay Affiliation/Entry Fees'
Judging Conflicts
Q. I am a senior division student (or
juunior division team student) and can not
make the interview portion of judging for the Science Fair. Should I still compete?
A. YES - Your project will be judged 'in the blind' without an interview.
You will not do as well because the interview plays a key part of the
evaluation, however, your project will still be considered for professional and
category awards. You will not be eligible to compete in the afternoon
session of judging, however, where the ISEF finalists are determined.
Q. There are three of us doing a team project.
However, one (or two) of the other team members can not be present for judging.
Am I permitted to still exhibit as a team project?
A. YES - You will be the spokesperson for the team. The judges like
to talk to each of the members of the team but will accept the fact that other
conflicts can occur. Be prepared to answer the questions on what the other
members did on the project and why they could not be present for judging.
A 'proxy' person (parent, teacher, another student), is NOT permitted to stand
in for the absent member.