Elementary Project Information

The Alaska Science & Engineering Fair is open to all elementary school students. There is no limit to the number of students that a school can send to the State Fair. 

 

6th Grade Students

6th grade students may either enter as a middle school project or an elementary school project. Middle school projects are often eligible for more special category awards, however the rules and judging rubric are stricter than for elementary school projects. Help for 6th grade registration choice

Paperwork

Elementary students do not have the same paperwork requirements as secondary students; however, it is strongly advised that teachers approve students’ projects before work is begun. If you have questions about the appropriateness of an experiment, please contact us.

Avoid These Experiment Types

Experimentation involving the following are strongly DISCOURAGED:

 

• nonhuman vertebrate animals
• controlled substances
• pathogens (all bacteria isolated from the environment are considered pathogenic)
• DNA
• animal tissues
• humans

Resources

 Please see the following resources:

• Elementary Student Project Checklist
• Judging Rubric for Elementary Projects

Click here to see Elementary School forms and schedules

 

Prepare for your project’s safety check! When you set up your project at Registration, it must have a safety inspection. These pages extracted from the Safety Inspector Training slide show (1.3MB PDF) describe items that may not be on your project display.

You can use items such as glass tubing, vinegar, and plant soil during your research, but please don’t bring such items to the science fair. Take pictures of them! Put the pictures on your display.

Do you need these “unsafe” items at the science fair? No! Do your project ahead of time. At the science fair, describe what you did. The judges care that you can express your understanding of your project; they do not need you to reproduce the work in front of them.

Objects like these belong in a picture on your display board. Do not bring them to the science fair.