Regional Rules, Guidelines and Registration

Transcription

1 The Charles Duggan Long Island Science and Engineering Fair nd Year of Regional Affiliation with the Society for Science and the Public s INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair Regional Rules, Guidelines and Registration LISEF Contact Information President@lisef.org (631) Mailing Address LI Science and Engineering Fair, Inc. 998 Old Country Road STE C PMB 164 Plainview, NY LISEF Fair Director: Angela Lukaszewski Regional Rules, Guidelines and Registration for the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair

2 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS... 2 IMPORTANT WEBSITES... 2 IMPORTANT DATES... 3 MISSION STATEMENT... 3 ETHICS STATEMENT... 4 GENERAL ELIGIBILITY FOR LISEF... 4 HOME SCHOOLED STUDENTS ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS... 4 LISEF ADDITIONAL RULES AND GUIDELINES... 5 RECOMMENDATIONS... 8 ISEF RULE/GUIDELINE CHANGES FOR ONLINE STUDIES REASONS FOR FAIL TO QUALIFY (FTQ) AT LISEF CATEGORIES COMMITMENT AGREEMENT LIAISON S ONLINE SCHOOL REGISTRATION & RESPONSIBILITIES ONLINE PROJECT REGISTRATION BY STUDENT PROJECT PDF FILE UPLOAD FAIR INFORMATION ROUND ADVANCEMENT TO ROUND FAIR INFORMATION ROUND ADVANCEMENT TO ISEF LISEF PROJECT DISPLAY REGULATIONS REGISTRATION FEES LISEF FAIR 2017 DIRECT PAYMENT FORM LISEF FAIR 2017 EASTERN SUFFOLK BOCES PARTICIPATION FORM LISEF MEDIA RELEASE FORM Important Websites The International Rules and Guidelines for Science Fairs is available on the Society for Science and the Public website: The Intel ISEF Rules Wizard (required for all projects prior to experimentation/data collection): Interactive Intel ISEF 2017 Forms: ISEF 2017 Subject Specific Guidelines o Humans: o o o Vertebrates: PHBAs: Hazardous: The Intel ISEF Human Subject Risk Assessment Guide: Online Survey Consent Procedures: ISEF Guidelines for Biosafety Level 1 Self Assessment Checklist: The Intel ISEF Self-Assessment for Bio-Safety Level 2: Intel ISEF SRC and IRB Guidelines: 2 P a g e o f 2 3

3 Important Dates Round 1 Wednesday, February 8 th, 8 a.m. 4 p.m. Crest Hollow Country Club 8325 Jericho Tpk., Woodbury, NY (516) Round 2 Thursday, March 23 rd, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Crest Hollow Country Club 8325 Jericho Tpk., Woodbury, NY (516) September 1, 2016 (Thursday) Maximum School Allocation posted October 14, 2016 (Friday) Postmark date for mailing of Commitment Agreement October 25, 2016 (Tuesday) Posting of Final School Allocation number including Raffle awards for each school October 26, 2016 (Wednesday) Liaison and Student/Project Registration Opens on Website December 7, 2016 (Wednesday) 11:59 p.m. Online Registration Completion Deadline for Students (missing this deadline automatically disqualifies the project) December 9, 2016 (Friday) 11:59 p.m. Deadline for School Liaison to Certify Accuracy of Student's Registration (Certification cannot exceed Final School Allocation see Website for further details) December 13, 2016 (Tuesday) LISEF, Inc Invoices will be mailed by this date (please note that the JV Fair has later close of registration and invoicing dates.) January 25, 2017 (Wednesday) Last Day to Edit Abstract January 25, 2017 (Wednesday) Receipt of LISEF Payment Deadline February 6, :59 p.m. Deadline for all project PDF Uploads (as one PDF file) of ALL paperwork, including, in the following order, Wizard, Abstract, ISEF forms (with Research Plan/Post Summary), Research Paper and digital file of project board (missing this deadline automatically fails to qualify the project) February 8, 2017 (Wednesday) LISEF Round 1 March 23, 2017 (Thursday) LISEF Round 2 & Awards Ceremony March 29, 2017 (Wednesday) Mandatory ISEF Finalist/Chaperone Meeting April 20, 2017 (Thursday) Mandatory ISEF Practice Sessions/Sandwiches Mission Statement Our mission is to promote excellence in scientific inquiry and discovery in LI schools. 3 P a g e o f 2 3

4 Ethics Statement Scientific fraud and misconduct are not condoned at any level of research or competition. Such practices include plagiarism, forgery, use of electronic equipment during judging to obtain information relevant to your project, use or presentation of other researcher s work as one s own and fabrication of data. Fraudulent projects will fail to qualify for competition in affiliated fairs or the Intel ISEF. General Eligibility for LISEF Each school must have a school liaison. Each student may enter only one project that covers research done over a maximum of 12 continuous months between January 2016 and May All students (including all members of a team) must be affiliated with a Nassau or Suffolk County educational institution (a home schooled individual/team should follow the instructions contained in this document). Student must be enrolled in Grade 9 12 and less than 20 years of age on 1/1/2017. NEW: English is the official language of Intel ISEF and LISEF. Student project boards and abstracts and all paperwork must be in English. Each project must satisfy all of the Intel ISEF rules and LISEF rules that apply. Team members may be enrolled in different Nassau/Suffolk schools. A team may consist of 2 or 3 members. Each school must submit a signed commitment agreement, postmarked by October 14, 2016, for at most the number of projects in the 2017 Maximum Allocation. See details in the Commitment Agreement section of this document, p. 13. If a school liaison certifies more than their allocation, then the order of online registration will determine eligibility. Every registered student and every teacher that attends any of the three LISEF affiliated fairs must complete a LISEF Media Release Form: Home Schooled Students Additional Requirements The parent/guardian of the student wishing to present research at any of LISEF Inc. s three fairs will act as the liaison. Once initial page of online registration is completed with contact information, the registration process is automatically suspended until Proof of Home Schooling is received, at which time you will be notified and your registration may be completed. It is essential that obtaining Proof of Home Schooling be completed in a timely manner to facilitate completion of registration by the close of registration deadline. Proof of Home Schooling: The parent/guardian acting as the liaison must request that the Nassau or Suffolk school district in their community have their Pupil Personnel Office send a copy of the letter in which the school district approved the student s Individual Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) for the current school year to LISEF; this letter and/or an attachment made by the school district must define the grade level of the course of study. A copy from the parent is not sufficient. The parent pays the required fees per child that is a member of a registered project; the student cannot compete if this is not received by the published deadline. The parent should use the Direct Payment Form although it is designed for schools; write home school where asked for School Name, parent information everywhere else except we do need the name of the school district in which you reside. 4 P a g e o f 2 3

5 The home-schooled student may enter only one project that covers research done over a maximum of 12 continuous months between January 2016 and May The home-schooled student s project must satisfy all of the Intel ISEF rules and LISEF rules that apply and complete all of the appropriate ISEF forms. If the student s project is done in a Registered Research Institution, the LISEF SRC/IRB will sign any of the forms that require a local SRC signature once the student has completed their research as long as proof that all of the required prior reviews were conducted at the university. If the student s project is done in any place other than a Registered Research Institution, the student must seek prior reviews from the LISEF SRC/IRB. Home-schooled projects will not affect the Maximum Allocation granted to any school in that student s community. Since most students, enrolled in a public/private school on Long Island that participates in LISEF, compete internally for the right to present at LISEF fairs, LISEF, Inc. expects that projects submitted to its fairs are of a high caliber and reserve the right to deny participation to a homeschooled project that is below LISEF, Inc. s standards. LISEF, Inc. will review the submitted Research Plan and Abstract to determine if the project is eligible to compete. Although a project is unable to compete in one fair, it might be deemed eligible for one of the other LISEF affiliated fairs. If a project is ineligible for a fair, and a fee has been paid, that fee is refundable. The home-schooled student and parent that attend any of the three fairs must complete a LISEF Media Release Form: LISEF Additional Rules and Guidelines In the interest of safety, fairness and ethics, a Regional Affiliated Fair can be more restrictive than the ISEF Rules and Guidelines. Please see additional rules below, now organized by topic; new or updated items are contained within the appropriate topic: GENERAL: NEW: All participants must dress and behave with a reasonable level of decorum. LISEF, Inc. reserves the right to immediately fail to qualify a project where the participant(s) are a distraction to others and to remove them from the competition floor for the remaining time of the competition. NEW: Photography/videography of any student/project not from your district is prohibited by any person(s) other than the LISEF designated photographer. A LISEF official photographer will be identified by a badge and may photograph any participant. Updated: All individuals/team members must present at LISEF Round 1(and Round 2 if applicable), unless extenuating circumstances are approved by the board prior to the fair, to be eligible for awards. Other competitions and/or school/sporting events, etc. are not extenuating circumstances. Each school is required to have a district employee as a chaperone on premises for their students AT ALL TIMES during the LISEF competition and awards ceremony, and complete all duties assigned. If chaperone coverage for students from a particular school is not provided at all times throughout the event, a letter will be sent to the school s designated chaperone and a copy will be sent to that person s immediate supervisor. A competing individual or team member not present during the awards ceremony, without prior clearance from the LISEF President, forfeits their opportunity for an award including the trip to ISEF. Note, that if one member of a team is absent without permission from the awards ceremony, the entire team becomes ineligible for ISEF as the ISEF Guidelines do not permit any change to the team membership after once competing. 5 P a g e o f 2 3

6 The liaison must canvas their students to determine if a team project is a split-school project and contact the other school to determine which school is including that project in their school s commitment; this must be done prior to the Oct. 14 th commitment agreement deadline. Each school is responsible for payment for their student(s) that are a part of a split-school team project. RESEARCH PLAN/POST SUMMARY: NEW: Submit one document, the Research Plan/Post Summary, as described below: 1. Research Plan written prior to experimentation (future tense) 2. Addendum (present/past tense): If no changes are made from the original research plan, state that no changes were made. If changes (additions or deletions) are made during the research, add these changes in the addendum, recognizing that some changes may require returning to the IRB or SRC for appropriate reviews and approvals. Please start the Addendum on a separate page. A 5 point deduction will be made from each judge s raw score at Round 1 where a comprehensive appropriate Research Plan (see Complete ISEF Rules & Guidelines 2017, Page 31) is not entered in the Online Registration by December 7, 2016; an additional 5 point deduction will be made from each judge s raw score for the lack of a complete Abstract in the Online Registration database by January 25, 2017 (see ISEF Guidelines 2017, p. 27: an abstract must include the purpose of the experiment, procedure, data, and conclusions and represent only the work of the student(s)). RESEARCH PAPER: Updated: A 5 point penalty will be subtracted from each judge s raw score at Round 2 for the lack of submission or an incomplete submission of a research paper as described below, or as in a primary research publication in a format consistent with your discipline: REQUIRED 1. Introduction section 2. Materials and Methods 3. Results (data, findings or mathematical proofs) 4. Discussion and conclusions 5. References RECOMMENDED 6. A title page stating the Title of the project, the student s name(s) and school name(s) 7. Pages have to be numbered CONTINUATIONS AND TEAMS: Clarification: A project in which the student(s) learned techniques and equipment in one year, and did experimentation in the second year is considered a continuation. If AT ANY TIME, LISEF, Inc. becomes aware of a change of membership of a project presented at a prior competition than its membership registered for the LISEF competition, LISEF will impose a 50% penalty of the allotment for the following school year for each school involved in the infraction. In addition, the student(s) involved will fail to qualify, and in the event that the LISEF competition has already taken place, then that project and student(s) will be stripped of all recognition and awards. Additionally, the principal and superintendent of the school(s) involved will be sent a letter informing them that their allocation of LISEF registrations is being reduced by 50% the following year because of an ethics violation. Team membership cannot be changed during a given research year unless there are extenuating circumstances; the LISEF Regional SRC must approve of any change in team membership during the 12-months after the stated start date for the project. This ruling supersedes the ISEF Rules and Guidelines. Keep in mind that once a project has competed in any science fair at any level, no changes are allowed even in extenuating circumstances. APPROVALS: Updated: On Form 1B, Box 1A is for prior approvals (school, home or field only) and Box 2A is for research completed at a RRI and acknowledges that the approvals took place at the RRI. At the top of Box 2A it states Required for research conducted at all Regulated Research Institutions 6 P a g e o f 2 3

7 BSL: with no prior fair SRC/IRB approval. Although ISEF softened their stance on this, LISEF will hold to the stricter interpretation that the word FAIR is the Affiliated Fair or LISEF. All projects using BSL-2 classified biological agents in a high school lab must submit a copy of their high school s BSL-2 certification from a government agency. The website below will describe in detail the levels of biological containment and provide guidance to you in setting up a BSL-2 lab before contacting any agency. If you need the name of a government agency that approves BSL-2 labs, you may contact president@lisef.org. VERTEBRATES: NEW: The affiliated fair SRC serves as an approval committee for vertebrate projects performed in a school, home or field, differing from the 2017 ISEF guideline that would allow for the local SRC to also act in this capacity. HUMAN PARTICIPANT PROJECTS: The LISEF Regional SRC will not allow expedited review for any project. This ruling supersedes the ISEF Rules and Guidelines. On Form 4, your SRC must use the section for Full Review, not Expedited Review. All published instruments that are not in the public domain must be administered, scored and interpreted by a Qualified Scientist as required by the instrument publisher. Any and all use and distribution of the test must be in accordance with the publisher s requirements, including procurement of legal copies of the instrument. All approvals to use the publisher s instrument must be attached to the Research Plan at the time of IRB review. Please note, because a published instrument is readily available on the internet does not mean that it is legitimately in the public domain. If an instrument being used is one legitimately in the public domain, provide proof to that effect. If the student(s) states that they have modified a published instrument, the student(s) must provide a copy of the original instrument or a link to it. Human Participants Form 4 additional requirement: An additional signature from the local IRB chair is required which indicates the review and approval of ALL stimuli/material (visual, auditory, written, mechanical, etc.) to which human participants will be exposed. A statement similar to our sample below should be printed on the school letterhead and submitted, along with all such stimuli described above, to the local IRB; this said document should be signed and dated by the local IRB Chair. o Our IRB has seen/heard and reviewed the stimuli/material (visual, auditory, written, mechanical, etc.) to which human participants will be exposed for this project and which are listed below: (list all stimuli/material) Surveys to collect data for LISEF participation may not be distributed to students enrolled in a K- 12 class (public or private school) where they receive any kind of evaluation OR where attendance is taken. This rule is designed to maximize the voluntary assent of the participants. It will apply to ALL projects that require voluntary assent of human subjects. The Scripts that are used to present a survey to potential subjects during recruiting and/or to describe informed consent must be included in the research plan under the appropriate headings. Any measures administered to Human Participants, including those used in pilots, that may cause physical or psychological harm must go through the IRB approval process; submit a Form 4 for the Pilot Study. The survey/questionnaire must be attached to the Informed Consent if Parental/Guardian permission is required by your IRB. In this instance, the CONSENT FORM must include the following statement followed by their signature and date: YES NO (circle one) I have received a copy of any survey or questionnaire to be used in the research. 7 P a g e o f 2 3

8 Adult Roles: (If the Human Informed Consent Form from the ISEF Guidelines is used, add the above statement to the back and include an * on the front that directs parents to the reverse side.) The LISEF Regional SRC must give approval of any individual, not at an RRI, as the qualified scientist prior to the start of experimentation, if one is required (usually Human Participants, nonhuman Vertebrates, and PHBAs.) ISEF Guidelines 2017: A Qualified Scientist should have earned a doctoral/professional degree in a scientific discipline that relates to the student s area of research. Alternatively, the SRC may consider an individual with extensive experience and expertise in the student s area of research as a Qualified Scientist. Having a Bachelors or a Masters degree in a scientific discipline is not sufficient to act as a Qualified Scientist without additional experience in a professional lab. Several years as a research teacher does not constitute extensive experience in the student's area of research. The alternative that the ISEF guidelines mention, extensive experience and expertise, generally applies to fields where a professional degree does not exist. Each project is different and the Qualified Scientist should have significant knowledge in the student's area of research. In a closed session at each monthly meeting, the SRC members and our board of trustees will determine approval status of all open Qualified Scientist applications. PDF UPLOADS: NEW: The lack of submission of any of the following Forms (1, 1A (with attached Research Plan/Research Paper), 1B and Abstract) with the PDF upload will result in a 5-point penalty will be subtracted from each judge s raw score at Round 2. Updated: A 5 point penalty will be subtracted from each judge s raw score at Round 2 for the lack of submission or an incomplete submission of a research paper. Updated: We require that the digital file of the project board be submitted as part of the Feb 6, 2017 PDF Upload; the file must be easily readable. NO PHOTOS! NEW: If the liaison elects to upload a project s PDF upload, any errors made in doing so will be treated as a student error. ISEF: Updated: A school district is required to send a district employee chaperone to ISEF should one of your students become a finalist (LISEF recommends that the chaperone be a person with STEM or research teacher experience); this chaperone must travel with the LISEF Group and attend all ISEF and LISEF sponsored events unless the LISEF Board has granted an exemption prior to the Finalists meeting on Wednesday, March 29, 2017 (in the event an exemption is granted, the district employee chaperone must travel with their student(s)). Finalists and chaperones are required to attend the mandatory meetings. NEW: Any project board being sent to ISEF by LISEF must fit in a bicycle box of size 53x7x30 inches; if you have a larger board, you are responsible for shipping and will receive a $30 stipend from LISEF. Any exceptions to any one of the above LISEF rules can only be granted by the LISEF SRC and Board of Trustees. Please submit your request with a rationale to the LISEF SRC Committee (src@lisef.org) prior to proceeding with the study. If a waiver is granted, submit documentation with your paperwork. Recommendations Students should use headings and bullets throughout their research plan. The subject-specific guidelines (items 1-4 on the Intel ISEF Research Plan/Post Summary Instructions) should be embedded within the Procedures section (item C) of the Research Plan. Note: These housekeeping recommendations may put your reviewer in a better mood! 8 P a g e o f 2 3

9 ISEF Rule/Guideline Changes for All page numbers given in this section refer to ISEF s 2017 Rule and Guidelines Eligibility: Item 3, pg. 3: English is the official language of the Intel ISEF. Student project boards and abstracts must be in English. Continuation/Research Progression Projects: Item 3, pg. 4: Previous year s databooks, research papers and supporting documents may be at the booth, but not openly displayed, if properly labeled as such. Human Participants: Item 1, pg. 8: This rule clarifies when the student test of student designed invention, etc. is exempt and when it qualifies for expedited review. LISEF does not allow expedited review. It is exempt only when said device is tested on the student researcher (no other humans) and testing does not pose a health or safety risk. All others must undergo FULL review by LISEF rules. Item 6, pg. 9: Added item (6e) The student researcher may request the IRB waive the requirement for written informed consent/parental permission in his/her research plan if the project meets specific requirements. See section on IRB waivers for more information about situations in which written parental permission and/or written informed consent can be waived by the IRB. Added a new Section, pg. 10, titled Human Participant Involvement in Student-designed Invention, Prototyped, Computer Application & Engineering/Design Projects to further clarify Exempt vs. Expedited vs. Full review in these instances. LISEF only allows Exempt and Full review. List of Forms for Human Participant Projects, pg. 10: Added 5 th bullet: Risk Assessment (3) when applicable. Vertebrates: Item 3, pg. 12: The local or affiliated fair SRC serves as an approval committee for vertebrate projects performed in a school, home or field. LISEF will restrict this approval committee to include only the LISEF SRC. PHBA: Item 1e, pg. 15: Clarified when mushrooms are exempt now exempt only when edible. Item 3f, pg. 15: Expanded definitions of permissible/impermissible studies involving antibiotic resistant traits/markers. Item 3g, pg. 15: Now requires written justification for culturing of MRSA, VRE and KPC Item C, 1a, pg. 16: Plant tissues are not exempt when they are known to be toxic or hazardous. Item C, 3, pg. 16: Added that the Use of tissues obtained from agricultural/aquacultural studies require prior SRC approval. Item C, 6, pg. 17: Clarified that in addition to the collection and examination of fresh/frozen tissues or body fluids as items that may contain microorganisms, requiring BSL-2, meat, meat by-products, pasteurized milk or eggs NOT obtained from food stores, restaurants, or packing houses must also be considered BSL-2 studies. Item 7c, top box, pg. 18: no longer required to have a letter to state that this work does not need approval in the RRI. Hazardous Chemicals, Activities or Devices: Under Additional Rules for Specific Regulated Substances, Item 1b, pg. 19: added marijuana as a DEA Schedule 1 substance. New Item 5, pg. 20: Drones must follow all state, Federal and country laws. Under Guidance for Risk Assessment, 9 P a g e o f 2 3

10 Item 3, pg. 20: defined Ionizing radiation as having enough energy to remove tightly bound electrons from atoms, thus creating ions. Examples include high frequency UV, X-Rays, and gamma rays. Note: this change was made to make it clear that at any time there is more than the amount of radiation, ionizing or non-ionizing, encountered in everyday life, a risk assessment is required. Safety Regulations: Not Allowed at Project or Booth, Item 14, pg. 26: Added that magnified light sources not allowed, specifically that a Fresnel Lens cannot be used in conjunction with a light source26 it becomes an open flame. Laser Requirements, Item 1, pg. 26: Lasers must be labeled by manufacturer so that power output can be inspected Laser Requirements, Item 2, pg. 26: LED s that consume over 1 watt, unless they are in a commercial light bulb/fixture or otherwise shielded, will not be allowed. Other Safety Regulations, Item 5, pg. 26: Projects can be continued under the table BUT this area is not to be used for storage. Note: this refers to project EQUIPMENT but not storage of packaging materials, previous year s log books, etc. Form Changes: Form 1: Added a new item to question 6, Testing student designed invention/prototype. The check list of forms below the prototype check item applies to both Humans and the Testing student designed invention/prototype items. Check either Humans or Testing, and then check the forms. Research Plan/Project Summary Instructions: Items 1 and 2, pg. 31 are new. It is now ONE document, the original research plan, plus an addendum. The addendum contains the changes; they provided a cautionary statement that some changes may require seeking additional IRB or SRC approvals. The original research plan must be written prior to experimentation so must be in present/future tenses; the addendum is past tense and acts as the project summary. There no longer is a Discussion of results and conclusions. Although ISEF stated that if there are no changes from the original research plan, there is no addendum, LISEF will require an addendum for all projects; in the case of no changes, just include a statement that no changes were made. Item 5, pg. 31: no longer required to have 5 sources but must have a bibliography. Vertebrates, Item 2c, pg. 31: added that research plan/project summary must detail chemical concentrations and drug dosages. Hazardous chemicals, activities & devices, Item 4, pg. 31: eliminated chemical concentrations and drug dosages from this one; we asked for clarification on this and were told that you are still required to provide this information in your research plan but the item was removed from the check list because they felt it was understood that this was required so a checklist item was not needed and they needed the space for other changes. Also, at the ISEF SRC meeting in Phoenix, they made it clear that they do not want the MSDS sheets! Form 1C: Substantial changes- see pg. 33. Question 1: Asks if substantial guidance given. If yes, complete rest of questions but if no, skip remaining questions and sign. Questions 2-5 are a re-ordering of previous 1C questions, but ask for more specific detail The ISEF SRC stated that the new changes clarify that this form is not only for RRIs. The mentor is also acknowledging that the student will be presenting this work publicly in competition and that he/she has communicated with the student researcher regarding any requirements for his/her review and/or restrictions of what is publicized. Form 4, pg. 36: 10 P a g e o f 2 3

11 In the IRB signatures signature section, ISEF clarified that the Medical or Mental Health Professional must have expertise related to this project. Form 6A, pg. 40: (transfers responsibility from Local SRC to QS in determining approvals. The local SRC now only affirms that the SRC has seen the research plan, supporting documentation and accuracy of the information on form 6A. The ISEF SRC also removed the requirement for a letter to document that the RRI does not require prior committee approval for certain projects. For help with ISEF and LISEF Rule interpretations, contact the SRC by ing src@lisef.org Online Studies Precautions- Do not allow student researchers to put identifying information online; include instead contact information for an adult associated with the study Use of addresses set up just for this survey a gmail account is not usually traceable If demographic data is needed, set up two surveys, one for demographics and one for the questionnaire Disable collection of IP Addresses if possible If not, delete from downloaded file immediately, then delete the responses from the online survey Store the data file on a password protected computer Consent/Assent Procedures- Provide the following on an Introductory page: o Sample consent form o The Tampering Statement o Confirm appropriate age if you only want a select group o Procedures used to protect confidentiality if IP addresses are collected (Survey Monkey can disable) o An I AGREE to Participate button redirects to survey and a DECLINE to Participate button o The Agree option should be on the left and the Decline option should be on the right How to get Written Parental Permission, if required by your IRB- Parental consent using valid electronic signatures ed to researcher Parent can scan signed permission and to researcher Minor participant completes online form, collecting parental contact info, and ed to researcher, who then contacts parent/guardian directly link to do survey ed to parent for child Some commercial programs contain the functionality to collect documented parental permission Documentation that you should include- Print/include a copy of Consent Page Print/include a copy of collection of parental contact if needed Print/include a copy of the questionnaire Include details of how IP address collection is handled in your Research Plan Include details of Recruitment in your Research Plan Include details of obtaining Written Parental Permission in your Research Plan Include in your Research Plan the time frame for the open access of the website IRB should test link 11 P a g e o f 2 3

12 Reasons for Fail to Qualify (FTQ) at LISEF The following is the current list of reasons that would result in a project s failure to qualify. It demonstrates past instances in which projects have not been permitted to move forward in LISEF and ISEF. However, we cannot foresee every instance in which a project may fail to qualify and we reserve the right to add additional items to the list. Eligibility: Student worked with a partner or team but competed as an individual, or vice versa Project data collection was more than 1 year in length or was too old Student, individual or team member, was not associated with a Nassau or Suffolk county school district Project display has more than one year s data (this includes replication data even if replication done in current year) Scientific Misconduct: Plagiarism Student presents mentor s research as his/her own Falsification of data Misrepresentation of team membership Reverting to previously disapproved version of display Any ethical misconduct Vertebrate Studies: Human Participant Studies Missing IACUC preapproval for vertebrate animal studies Missing prior IRB approval for human participant studies and pilots of same studies. Studies done at home/school/field that should have been done at a regulated research This includes submitting a signed Form 4 that lacks any IRB determinations. institution Studies that under-evaluated risk and did not Induced toxicity studies have a Qualified Scientist Predator/vertebrate prey experiments Studies where the IRB required written Studies where student performed euthanasia on a vertebrate animal documentation of consents which were not obtained Studies with an animal death in any group or subgroup due to experimental procedures of the student or of any other person using the same vertebrate animals Student administration, scoring and/or interpretation of a published instrument without the required qualifications as specified by the instrument publisher Studies where animals have a weight loss greater than or equal to 15% Potentially Hazardous Biological Agents (PHBAs) Studies where there was an inappropriate Microorganisms were cultured at home restriction of water or food Certification for a high school BSL-2 lab not Studies treated as embryonic studies that obtained were actually vertebrate studies Violation of BSL-1 protocol of unknown Projects that cause more than momentary or microorganisms which require keeping plates slight pain or distress to vertebrate animals, sealed even if caused by a person using the same BSL-2 studies done in a BSL-1 lab vertebrate animal, unless approved anesthetics, analgesics and/or tranquilizers are used Other Reasons for FTQ Hazardous Chemical Studies conducted at home or in the field without a LISEF SRC preapproved Designated Supervisor Continuation study which was merely a repeat of a previous project conducted by any student Failure to submit the Project PDF File Upload by the published deadline 12 P a g e o f 2 3

13 Categories At LISEF, teams present within the category that best fits the scientific discipline of the research. During registration, each individual or team leader will choose one of the ISEF categories offered that best fits their project and a sub-category within the category. Categories and sub-categories are listed on page 28 of the 2017 ISEF Rules & Guidelines; however, to see descriptions of the sub-categories, you should visit the ISEF website: LISEF categories will be determined after the close of LISEF registration. Our intent is to form LISEF categories based on the distribution of registration in the ISEF sub-categories. The determination of the LISEF categories will be made at the December LISEF monthly meeting, which is open to the public. New categories will be formed to include all of the ISEF subcategories for which projects are registered and some categories may be split to form new categories. Commitment Agreement Each school must submit a signed commitment agreement for at most the number of projects in the 2017 Maximum Allocation. The allocation formula for 2017, based on the previous year s Maximum Allocation: A school that had a 2016 maximum allocation of 9 projects or more is reduced by 1 A school that had a 2016 maximum allocation of 7 projects or less and registered its 2016 maximum allocation number will increase by 1 and the others remain the same A school not listed on the 2016 Maximum Allocation page is allowed 2 project registrations The cap is lowered to 11 projects Schools may request any number less than or equal to their maximum allocation and be guaranteed that they may register that number of projects. School allocations are posted on our website School districts MUST pay for every request made, even if they elect to register fewer projects than requested in their commitment agreement. Schools may request additional projects subject to a raffle/round robin process conducted at the October LISEF open meeting, October 20, If LISEF fails to reach 430 committed projects, additional spots will be awarded through either a raffle or a round robin; a round robin will be used if the number of schools requesting additional projects is less than the difference between 430 and the number of committed projects, in which case one project will be awarded to each school with an additional request; in the event that our 430 goal is not met once the first round robin is complete, an additional round robin will be conducted and each school with remaining requests will have only one entry per round until 430 projects is reached. At any time we cannot conduct a complete round robin a raffle for the remaining projects will be used. Each school with additional requests remaining will have one entry into the raffle drawing. If schools are awarded additional projects through the raffle/round robin process, they MUST pay the registration fee for each of those awarded projects/students whether they register these additional projects or not. The final allocation numbers, including the raffle/round robin awards, will be posted on our website by October 19, 2015; this represents the number of projects for which your school is financially responsible. 13 P a g e o f 2 3

14 The liaison must canvas their students to determine if a team project is a split-school project and contact the other school to determine which school is including that project in their school s commitment. Each school is responsible for payment for their student(s) that are a part of a splitschool project. LISEF does not accept students attending schools outside of Nassau or Suffolk Counties. Please fill out and return a commitment agreement (available on the LISEF page of our website, postmarked no later than October 14, Schools that do not submit a commitment letter postmarked by October14th will not be allowed to participate in the 2017 Long Island Science and Engineering Fair. By signing the commitment agreement, your district is agreeing to pay for the number of project registrations you requested, including students enrolled in your school that are members of a project registered through another school, at $200 per student entered, and you also agree to pay $200 for each project that you fail to register as per your commitment, including raffle/round robin awards. Group projects are limited to 3 students (e.g. a group project with 3 students would cost $600). In addition, you are being asked to sign a commitment that you will send a district employee chaperone to ISEF should one of your students become a finalist. This chaperone must travel with the LISEF Group and attend all ISEF and LISEF sponsored events unless the LISEF Board has granted an exemption prior to the mandatory Finalists meeting, March 29, Based on previous years expenses, the expected cost is anticipated to be $2,300 - $3,300. Liaison s Online School Registration & Responsibilities NOTE: School Registration (steps 1-5 above) must be completed before the students can begin Project Registration. 1. One liaison is required for EACH school. If this liaison is the same person for more than one LISEF sponsored fair or for more than one school, they should register for all at the same time. This person is responsible for completion of ALL forms submitted by the school and should be available by cell or regular phone on the SRC Review Day (Saturday, March 4, 2017) between Round 1 and Round 2. The SRC Interview date is Wednesday, March 8, Complete the 2017 commitment agreement and postmark no later than October 14, To complete the registration for your school, you will need the following information: a. Liaison s Name and contact information (we encourage submission of a non-school e- mail since these often are blocked for our mass mailings.) b. School s Name and Address c. Principal s name d. School FAX # e. Name and contact information, including address, phone and , of the person who should receive the invoice for the school s registrants for LISEF. This person is the one who will be responsible for submitting a Purchase Order to the district s business office. f. Indicate whether your school will be paying the invoice by Check or through BOCES. This should be discussed with the appropriate parties prior to entering this information. g. Phone number and name of individual in Accounts Payable in your District Billing Office. 4. Please enter the area(s) in which the liaison will be able to assist with the LISEF Fairs. The liaison is required to have an assigned duty on each of the fair days. 14 P a g e o f 2 3

15 5. Liaison must provide the name(s) of all Adult Sponsors in the school so that the Adult Sponsor can register. If liaison is an Adult Sponsor, they must check the box indicating so or their name will not appear on the list in the online registration. 6. Liaisons must provide the names and addresses (non-school if possible) of their SRC and IRB committees chairs. 7. Liaison is responsible for checking the information in the students online registrations PRIOR to the registration deadline. The LISEF website provides you the capability of viewing your students information, including their abstracts, research plans and PDF uploads! 8. PRIOR to the deadline for project PDF uploads, 11:59 p.m., February 6, 2017, the liaison is responsible for checking that the PDF contains the Wizard, Abstract, ISEF paperwork, including both a research plan and post summary, research paper and the digital file of the project board for each project; the liaison can do this by logging into the liaison page. Our website allows the liaison to download the PDF files to examine them, but only the student/team leader can upload a new one (missing this deadline automatically fails to qualify the project) 9. Clarification: If the liaison is unable to attend on any day of the competition, the liaison must arrange for a district employee to act as chaperone during the entire competition and awards program and that chaperone must assume the duties/responsibilities of the liaison. Online Project Registration by Student The individual or team leader of a project will: 1. Follow the prompts for entering personal data on the Registration Page of the Website. Note: All fields on the registration page must be complete before submission will be accepted, so make sure that you know all of the following information for each student for the project before entering the registration area: Names, address, school, (non-school), phone #, date of birth, grade, gender, dietary needs (pull-down menu: normal, kosher, vegetarian, gluten free), parent name, parental permission, user name for individual or team leader, password for individual or team leader, ISEF category of project, ISEF sub-category, title of project, prior competition registrations, citizenship, adult sponsor name, adult sponsor s school. 2. After page 1 is submitted, you will get an interlude page with your username and password. You will also receive an with this information. Please print the or this interlude page and attach in your logbook. 3. Submit a Research Plan at the time of online registration at A 5 point deduction will be made from each judge s raw score at Round 1 where an appropriate Research Plan (see ISEF Guidelines 2017, p.31) is not entered during Online Registration. 4. Submission of a draft of your Abstract is required at the time of online registration. The Abstract can be updated online after registration closes on December 7, Deadline for final updating of Abstracts is January 25, 2017; this abstract will be made available to the judges. A 5 point deduction will be made from each judge s raw score for the lack of a complete Abstract in the Online Registration database (see ISEF Guidelines 2017, p. 27: an abstract must include the purpose of the experiment, procedure, data, and conclusions and represent only the work of the student(s)). 5. Complete the ISEF Rules Wizard at: 15 P a g e o f 2 3

16 6. Print the final list of forms recommended by the Rules Wizard. After printing, place your name in the upper right-hand corner. This should have a date prior to start of experimentation/data collection. 7. The individual/team leader must upload a single PDF document which includes a copy of the Rules Wizard printout, Abstract on ISEF Official Abstract Form, ISEF paperwork, including Research Plan/Post Summary, research paper and digital file of the project board. The deadline for this submission is 11:59 P.M. on February 6, 2017 (missing this deadline automatically fails to qualify the project.) Consents are submitted at Round 1 in a manila envelope with the Project Table number, name of student(s) and School in upper right hand corner. After submission of the online registration of an individual/team leader, the individual/team leader may login to edit the personal information, title and research plan ONLY up until the close of registration on Dec. 7, 2016; the abstract and the PDF upload can continue to be edited up until their specific deadlines. PROJECT PDF FILE UPLOAD After a project has been registered, the individual/project leader will have the ability to upload a PDF file to be associated with their project. This PDF file can be overwritten by the individual/project leader until the deadline has passed; the deadline this year for the Project PDF Upload is February 6, 2017, 11:59 pm. Student: All items must be uploaded in ONE file as there will be only ONE upload per project. No interactive PDF files should be submitted. To avoid interactive forms, print and then scan as a PDF. Each project must complete this step to be assigned judges. A project without a Project PDF will FAIL to Qualify. No refund will be given. The all inclusive Project PDF is a single file that contains the following: 1. ISEF Rules Wizard printout, with the individual/team leader s name in upper right-hand corner. 2. An updated Abstract on the Abstract Form, available on ISEF s website; check the ISEF category that applies (it may be different than your LISEF category). This is an interactive form. Print first then scan as a PDF before including in upload. 3. ALL ISEF and LISEF completed forms/documentation, including the Research Plan/Post Summary. Place your ISEF forms together in the order in which they appear in the ISEF Rule Book. NEW: a 5 point penalty will be assessed on each Round 2 judge s raw score if any one of the items required for all projects (Forms 1, 1A including the Research Plan, 1B, Abstract) is missing from the PDF upload. 4. Copy of research paper (Update: 5 point penalty from each Round 2 judge s raw score if this is missing from the PDF upload) 5. Digital file of your project board The PDF File Upload should NOT contain any of the completed Human Participant Consent Forms. One complete set of completed consents must be brought to Round 1 and submitted at the registration table in a manila envelope with Project Table Number, student name(s) and School in upper right hand corner. Liaison: NEW: The liaison s login page has now consolidated 5 previous buttons (My School s Students, My School s Projects, Confirm My School s Students, Confirm My School s Projects, Change Project s Category/Fair) under one button to make it easier for the liaison. Once you click the new button, Student/Project Manager, you will access each project through a pull down menu; the 16 P a g e o f 2 3

17 project information appears at the top of the page, followed by the student/team information, and the editing abilities appear at the bottom. Once registration closes, the ability to confirm the project will appear at the bottom of the project page for 48 hours (you no longer need to confirm the project as this information is now tied to the project members). The Liaison should login to their webpage to view all student registration items PRIOR to the close of registration to determine if your students have completed all tasks to your satisfaction; to do this, select Student/Project Manager. Also note that the liaison will see directly under the category/subcategory of the project an indication in red if no project upload has occurred. If the student completed their upload, a link to that upload will appear in blue directly under the category/subcategory so that you can see that the student completed the upload to your satisfaction. The liaison will not be able to upload revisions but must direct their students to do so; the student must upload an entire PDF set with each revision as it will overwrite any previous upload. Once the liaison is satisfied with the upload for each project, the liaison should print a copy for their files. The PDF upload is a student responsibility. NEW: If the liaison elects to upload a project s PDF upload, any errors in doing so will be treated as a student error. Students can only make changes prior to deadlines, so check PRIOR to each deadline to see if your students fulfilled their responsibilities. One last reminder: students and teachers should each have a copy of all ISEF and LISEF paperwork. Fair Information Round 1 1. Liaisons will submit one LISEF Media Release Form for each student participating in the fair, and one for each district employee that accompanies the students to the fair, at the Registration Desk in the lobby upon their arrival. Also submit envelope(s) containing one complete set of consent forms for each Human Participant study at this time. Please write CONSENTS on the envelope and the following information: Student name(s), liaison name, project number, school name. 2. The Abstract on the ISEF Form must be displayed vertically at your project. 3. If required, Forms 1C and/or 7 must be displayed on your table. 4. Prepare a presentation of no more than seven (7) minutes, and be prepared for a question and answer session of five (5) minutes. It is at the judge s discretion to allow you to do a formal presentation. 5. Download a Round 1 Easy Checklist of items needed at Round 1. Advancement to Round 2 The number of projects that move on from Day 1 to Day 2 is a minimum of 25% of the projects in a category with a maximum of 10. If a category is being awarded 2 ISEF spots, the maximum for that category will be set at 20 but may be less if the calculation dictates. When this calculation results in a decimal equal to or greater than 0.5, we will round up. Projects with negative z-scores are not eligible to advance. If the calculation results in a number less than 5, LISEF will ask the 5 projects with the highest positive z-scores as long as there are 5 with positive z-scores. 17 P a g e o f 2 3