Judging Rubric/Criteria

Goals:

1. Achieve consistent scoring between judges;
2. Set standards for "Superior" through "Needs Improvement" for each judged element;
3. Provide clear expectations for engineering/design projects;
4. Fairly differentiate between student work and projects with extensive adult involvement.

What is it?

The judging rubric describes project quality from "superior" to "good, average and needs improvement," giving judges a baseline from which to work. Possible point values are displayed below descriptions as number lines.

What isn't it?

The rubric is not a magic judging bullet, and numeric scores are not the final determining factor in the selection of category and grand prize winners. Instead, numeric scores are used to identify top projects, and winners are chosen by consensus.

Science Projects vs. Engineering Projects

The rubric provides judging criteria for engineering & design projects, a less known alternative to traditional science projects. Both criteria are included in a single judging sheet, with the alternative criteria shown in shaded areas where there are differences. For example, a science project would have a hypothesis, whereas an engineering and design project would have a problem statements or design goal.