CHIEF JUDGE DUTIES - JUNIOR DIVISION
1.
7:00 a.m. -- Report to Michigan Hall,
2.
7:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. -- Set up your work area and prepare to meet
your judges. At this time determine the
number of judges for each category and the number of projects for each
judge. As the judges arrive they will
check in at a central area and then be sent to you. [If a judge comes to you without a
name tag and judge number, send him or her back to the central check-in at the
front of the hall.]
As the judges check in, tell them judging orientation will be at 8:30
a.m. Coffee and donuts will be available
for them at the front of the hall. There
will be “lunch chits” available again this year!
8:30 a.m. -- Orientation of Judges. Although some of the
judges have received detailed instructions in the mail, your
should remind them of the following:
a)
Assign judges in groups of 2 or 3 and distribute computer printout
sheets listing the projects by number that they are to judge. If a large number of projects are entered in
a particular category in your fair (e.g., 125 chemistry projects), divide the
projects between two or three groups of judges.
b)
Judges should budget their time so that Round One judging is complete
by 10:00 a.m., if possible.
c)
During Round One, the judges are determining which projects will be
“blue ribbon,” “green ribbon”, or “red ribbon” using the following criteria:
Blue ribbons
(OUTSTANDING) are the very best projects that deserve consideration for top ranking;
approximately 35-40% of all projects should be blue ribbon. The best of the blue ribbon projects will be
judged individually by the judges and in more detail during round two.
Green ribbon (EXCELLENT) are projects
that still show scientific thought and ability but are not in the running for
the top places; approximately 50-55% of all projects should be green ribbon.
Red ribbons (HONORABLE MENTION) are
those projects that show a minimum of scientific thought and effort; only
10-15% of the projects should be red ribbon.
d)
When the judging group has decided on the color of ribbons to be
awarded, two things should be done:
¨
If the project is getting a red or green ribbon, a sticker representing
the color ribbon should be placed in the box in the upper right-hand
corner of the student ID card and should be initialed.
¨
The color ribbon awarded should also be indicated on the computer
printout. Every project listed on
the computer printout should have the color to be awarded indicated or should
be marked “No Show”.
e)
The judges then need to decide which of the blue ribbon projects are the ones that deserve further judging. Approximately half of them should go on to
Round Two. An arrow or asterisk should
be placed next to the blue column on the computer printout sheet for those
projects that WILL go on to Round Two judging.
The judges should go back and put blue stickers on the ID cards of the
projects that WILL NOT go on to Round Two judging.
3.
As the judges complete the first round of judging, look over the
computer printout sheets as they are returned to you. Make sure all projects have been judged (or
marked “No Show”). Calculate the
percentages of blue, red, and green ribbons and decide if any upgrading is
needed (by either the judging groups or the Chief Judge.) When Round One is complete for a category,
complete the last page of the computer printout sheet (“Total for each award”,
“Chief Judge Signature”, “Chief Judge Name - printed”, “Time”) and submit the
completed sheets to Data Processing.
BEFORE submitting the completed Round One sheets to Data Processing,
highlight on the JUDGE ASSIGNMENT sheet all
blue ribbon projects and note which ones have been designated to go on to
Round Two judging. This Judge Assignment
Sheet will be used at the end of Round Two as a way for the judges to
verify that they have judged the correct blue ribbon projects.
Data Processing may generate a separate worklist for the Chief Judges
after Round One which will show all of the projects grouped according to Blue,
Green, and Red.
4.
When Round One is completed, judges may begin individually judging the
best of the “blue
ribbon” projects using the “mark sense” cards.
(Do not wait for the worklist from Data Processing.) These projects should be the ones with NO
stickers on them!
a)
Give each judge his or her stack of cards. Review the JUDGING CRITERIA on the back of
the card. Remind them that they will be
evaluating each project independently using these criteria and will only be
given a few cards at a time. They should
not go back and change scores once the card has been completed.
b)
Review with the judges the process to use in completing the cards:
¨
A number 2 pencil must be used.
If mistakes are made, it is better to tear up the card and get another;
do not make erasures.
¨
Enter their 5-digit JUDGE number in the box marked JUDGE and darken in the bubbles below the box.
¨
Enter the CATEGORY number in the
category box and darken in
the bubbles below the box. The CATEGORY
number is a five-digit number, which you will need to give the judges.
¨
Enter the Student five-digit project number in the FINALIST box and darken in the bubbles below the box. The judges will find this number on the
student ID card (in parentheses after the exhibit location number); it
is also on the computer printout sheets under the column marked FINALIST.
¨
As they judge the projects, they may complete the TOTAL SCORE or the SUBSCORE
section, at all times keeping in mind the JUDGING CRITERIA given on the back of
the card. If they happen to complete
both sections, the higher score will be used.
¨
They should judge the projects in order of exhibit location number to
make it easier to check their cards at the end of the round.
¨
Upon completing their stack of cards, judges should bring them to the
Chief Judge’s table where they will need to crosscheck their cards with the
list of projects on the Judging Assignment worklist. The Chief Judge (or the assistant) should
also scan through the cards and look for blatant errors (missing numbers or
scores; etc.). As the cards are turned
in, they need to be taken to the Data Processing table and put in the box
provided.
5.
When Round Two judging is complete
for a given category (i.e., all judges have completed and turned in their
cards), the Chief Judge will complete a specially designated RANK CARD. This card will let Data Processing know that
all cards have been submitted for that category. If there are any card errors, DP will place
the problem card(s) AND the Chief Judge Card in a specially designated “output”
box (designated by Fair, Division, and possibly category.) After correcting the errors, the judging card
and the Chief Judge Card should be resubmitted to Data Processing.
6.
When Data Processing has received all the cards for a given category
and there are no further errors, a ranked list of projects (using the Z-Score
Mean) will be placed in your designated output box. Your should then
review the list for “reasonableness”, looking for any blatant errors or perhaps
a project that was only judged by one judge when there should have been more.
7.
The Chief Judge will then mark the ranked list of projects and indicate
which of the blue ribbon projects should receive 1st, 2nd, 3rd or blue
(outstanding). Approximately half of the
blue ribbon projects should receive places, the other half should remain blue
ribbons, Look for “clear breaks” in the Z Score, Mean
in order to assign the ribbons.
Once you have marked the ranked list with the appropriate ribbons, complete
the information requested at the bottom of the list and return it to Data
Processing.
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. -- Grand Award Judging
In the JUNIOR Division, the Chief Judge needs to review the projects
that have received first place awards and select the top few that he/she feels
are truly outstanding. The four Junior
Division Chief Judges, along with the Judging Directors, will then go as a
group and discuss the various projects in each fair in order to select the
Grand Award winners. A complete list of
the Grand Award winners, by name and student number, should be submitted to
Data Processing and to the Fair Director.
The projects should then be moved to the front of the hall.
IN THE EVENT OF A COMPUTER PROBLEM . . . .
1) Use the “mark sense” cards
to score the best of the blue ribbon projects as described above.
2) Each judge then manually
sorts all of his/her cards by total score (after breaking any ties) and places
them in descending order (e.g., highest score is the top card in the pile).
3) In the upper right corner of
the card (in the box called (SEF/ISEF JUDGES SCORE CARD) the judge writes the
rank number of each card, starting with #1 for the highest score.
4) The judge then resorts the
cards so they are in order by Finalist number.
5) On the JUDGING ASSIGNMENT
sheet, the judge records the RANK NUMBER in the box next to the Finalist
number.
6) When all judges have
completed Round Two of judging and have written their rank number on the
JUDGING ASSIGNMENT sheet, the Chief Judge will total all of the rank numbers. Based on these rank number SUMS the Chief
Judge will come up with the final ribbon awards for first, second, third, and
blue (lowest rank sum is the best project).
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP (AND PATIENCE) WITH
ALL OF THE ASPECTS INVOLVED IN JUDGING THIS YEAR’S PROJECTS.
During the day please jot down any ideas for
improvements that come to mind and give them to one of the Judging Directors.
Filename: jrchfjud.doc