Welcome
Welcome to our guidelines and ideas site.
We hope you enjoy thinking of a question to investigate and then doing the actual investigation.
We hope you enjoy thinking of a question to investigate and then doing the actual investigation.
dates to remember
Friday 5th October Submit your question and team information to your class teacher
Friday 9th November Submit your project and display material to your teacher
Wednesday 14th November Arrange your display, present your project to Intel judge
Friday 9th November Submit your project and display material to your teacher
Wednesday 14th November Arrange your display, present your project to Intel judge
Guidelines
- The projects are to be completed either in teams (with a maximum of four students) or alternatively projects can be completed by individuals.
- The competition is open to 4th, 5th, and 6th class students.
- Students whose projects involve studies of live animals must ensure that such studies are carried out in conformity with the statutory regulations. Copies of the regulations are available from the Department of Health and Children, Hawkins House, Dublin 2.
- Agar plates containing micro-organisms cannot be exhibited.
- Projects must contain a project book and also a visual display for the school exhibition.
- Visual Display- Students will have to display their project on no more than 8 A4 pages as it is only to summarise the project. This is so that these pages can be arranged on the tables at your school display. Any other items that would help the display should be included if possible, for example, any pieces of equipment or models.
- Project book- should follow the Project book guidelines
- The project book cover should be the specially provided project form which captures all necessary information
Judging:
- The judges will collect the project book from each group at the start of the exhibition to get a better understanding of student’s projects.
- They will also visit each visual display during the exhibition to talk to the students involved about their projects.
- Judges will be scoring projects based on the following criteria:
- Project Book (content/scientific evaluation) 40 marks
- Project Book (presentation/visual impact) 30 marks
- Involvement, Oral Presentation, and Teamwork 30 marks - The judges will announce the winners of the exhibition at the award ceremony which will take place on the day of the exhibition.
- A 1st and 2nd prize team will be chosen in every school. The judges’ decision will be final.
Advice from Intel
Sarah Sexton, head of stem programs Intel Ireland advises:
1. Coming up with your idea – give yourself plenty of time to think about the idea for your science project and try to be as creative and imaginative with your idea as possible! Think about the world around you and questions you might have or problems that you come across every day. If you can, use a brainstorming process to put forward many ideas to be considered before choosing the one to work on. Remember, sometimes the simplest ideas make excellent projects.
2. Developing your idea – get out there and try things! Experiment, ask questions, take samples, do tests – real discovery happens when you are trying things for yourself. Try to not to just rely on the internet to find information or to do your research.
3. The project book – review the guidelines for the book and make yours are neat, clear and easy to follow as possible. Try to have the same format and style carry throughout and be careful not to just print information from the internet and add to your book. If you can, think about using diagrams, tables, graphs, images and don’t worry about the amount of text or writing that you have in the book – the most important thing is that it is clear and easy for the judge to follow.
4. Visual Display – the visual display is the chance for you to share you project with just a glance! Be sure to think about how to make it bright, clear, neat, easy to read - include pictures, graphs etc. – the visual display should really capture the most important points of your project in summary form. Remember, your display is not just your poster, you might have an experiment or a model to showcase or perhaps some props or other visual aids that help you explain your work.
5. Making your presentation – it’s important to think about how you are going to explain your project. If you are working in a team, think about how you will share different sections of the work between each member so that everyone gets a chance to participate. You don’t need to tell the judge everything so remember to summarize your project and really focus on the key results or key things you learned. Allow time for questions from the judge and try to not read directly from your project book.
Below is an example of a project carried out by a group students:
Project abstract – Do birds see in color?
“Our project sought to examine whether or not birds can see in color and have a preference for color - we measured out 5 equal bird feed samples, molding each into an equal sized ball shape and then we dyed 4 of the 5 samples into different colors being blue, red, green and yellow. The 5th sample remained neutral (not colored). We then left the bird feed in a location in our garden in order to carry out our experiment.
Over the next number of days we visited the test site and in order to determine how much feed had been taken by the birds we weighed each sample and took a record of its weight. We made sure to visit the site at the same time each day and to use a log book to record our data each day.
At the conclusion of our testing we were able to determine that the birds had taken the feed in equal amounts regardless of the color and therefore we conclude that birds do not see in color or have a color preference.”
1. Coming up with your idea – give yourself plenty of time to think about the idea for your science project and try to be as creative and imaginative with your idea as possible! Think about the world around you and questions you might have or problems that you come across every day. If you can, use a brainstorming process to put forward many ideas to be considered before choosing the one to work on. Remember, sometimes the simplest ideas make excellent projects.
2. Developing your idea – get out there and try things! Experiment, ask questions, take samples, do tests – real discovery happens when you are trying things for yourself. Try to not to just rely on the internet to find information or to do your research.
3. The project book – review the guidelines for the book and make yours are neat, clear and easy to follow as possible. Try to have the same format and style carry throughout and be careful not to just print information from the internet and add to your book. If you can, think about using diagrams, tables, graphs, images and don’t worry about the amount of text or writing that you have in the book – the most important thing is that it is clear and easy for the judge to follow.
4. Visual Display – the visual display is the chance for you to share you project with just a glance! Be sure to think about how to make it bright, clear, neat, easy to read - include pictures, graphs etc. – the visual display should really capture the most important points of your project in summary form. Remember, your display is not just your poster, you might have an experiment or a model to showcase or perhaps some props or other visual aids that help you explain your work.
5. Making your presentation – it’s important to think about how you are going to explain your project. If you are working in a team, think about how you will share different sections of the work between each member so that everyone gets a chance to participate. You don’t need to tell the judge everything so remember to summarize your project and really focus on the key results or key things you learned. Allow time for questions from the judge and try to not read directly from your project book.
Below is an example of a project carried out by a group students:
Project abstract – Do birds see in color?
“Our project sought to examine whether or not birds can see in color and have a preference for color - we measured out 5 equal bird feed samples, molding each into an equal sized ball shape and then we dyed 4 of the 5 samples into different colors being blue, red, green and yellow. The 5th sample remained neutral (not colored). We then left the bird feed in a location in our garden in order to carry out our experiment.
Over the next number of days we visited the test site and in order to determine how much feed had been taken by the birds we weighed each sample and took a record of its weight. We made sure to visit the site at the same time each day and to use a log book to record our data each day.
At the conclusion of our testing we were able to determine that the birds had taken the feed in equal amounts regardless of the color and therefore we conclude that birds do not see in color or have a color preference.”