Senior High Information

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

The Alaska Science & Engineering Fair is affiliated with the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and follows its rules and regulations.

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1. Scientific Review Committee Approval Required for Some Senior High Projects

All students are required to have the appropriate paperwork filled out and signed BEFORE experimentation begins. Some senior high projects require Scientific Review Committee (SRC) approval. Your teacher or adult sponsor should contact us with any questions about which forms/signatures are needed.

The following resource at the ISEF site helps you avoid SRC problems:

• Most Common Reasons for Projects to Fail to Qualify at Intel ISEF

2. Rules and Guidelines for Senior High:

Senior high projects for the Alaska Science & Engineering Fair must follow the rules of the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF):

• ISEF Rules – The published ISEF Rules.

The following resource helps you understand and follow the rules:

• The Intel ISEF Rules Wizard – Asks questions about your planned project and tells you which forms you need to complete!

It also helps to know what the judges are looking for in your project:

• Judging Guidelines and Evaluation Rubric for the Alaska Fair

Further resources:

• The Society for Science ISEF website
• How to write an ISEF abstract
• ISEF Resources page

3. Alaska Fair – Abstract Contest Form

Senior High projects are required to have two copies of a written abstract: One goes into the project portfolio and the other is collected at Registration for the special category Abstract Contest.

• Read more about the ASEF Abstract Contest
• ASEF (local) Abstract Contest Entry Form. Staple the local contest form to the front of a second copy of your completed ISEF abstract form. Use the ISEF abstract form for both your portfolio abstract and the second copy you submit for the abstract contest.

4. ISEF Forms for Senior High:

There are several very important forms that are required for Senior High projects. The appropriate forms for the project must be printed, completed, and signed before registering the project at the Alaska Science & Engineering Fair. Projects are only eligible to win the top prize of going to the international fair if the forms are completed correctly.

Please see the Forms page for a complete list of senior high forms.

Related Competitions

Are you doing a water- or biotech-related project? You may be able to enter your senior high project in more than one competition. Enter your project in the Alaska Science and Engineering Fair and also:

• For water-related projects, enter the competition for the prestigious Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP).
• For biotech-related projects, see the Biotechnology Institute BioGENEius Challenges.

Hint: 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, tissue, 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.