Course Description

Science Research Program – Grades 9, 10, 11, 12


Full Year – Level H: Incoming freshman and sophomore students must apply for admission to this program in January of the prior academic year. Acceptance into the program will be based on a science teacher recommendation, a written essay, and excellent academic grades.


This is an ongoing program that is taken in conjunction with the student’s regular science course. There are several tiers to the program. During Year 1 students learn the components of scientific research including the scientific method and apply these concepts in various settings including designing and conducting an authentic science research project and communicating results by participation in at least one local science fair. Students also explore various applications of science topics through field trips, guest speakers and class projects. Advanced students (Years 2-4) select their science research topic, locate an out-of-school mentor (either in industry or at a local university) and compete in a variety of science fairs including the CT State Science Fair, Southern CT Invitational Science and Engineering Fair (SCSEF) and the CT Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (CT JSHS). Advanced students pursue their selected research in depth, perform statistical analysis and compete at a number of local and/or national science fairs and competitions. In Years 2, 3, and 4 students are grouped together in a non-traditional classroom setting and are required to meet individually outside of class with their Science Research Instructor biweekly to review individual goals and assess progress. All students participate in the culminating annual activity, Amity’s Science Symposium.


Monday, April 29, 2013

2013 SCISEF Fair


Please reflect on the following (each question in detail):

1.  What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

2.  What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?

3.  What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?

4.  How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?

5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation on "Rivers on Drugs"? Explain.

6. In what way do you think the Mock Science Fair and/or Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare you?

7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair? Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?

Thank you

67 comments:

  1. 1. My overall experience at the SCISEF Fair was positive. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at the the other projects, which not only gave me ideas regarding future studies, but it also gave me ideas about my style of presentation. The whole mood set by the fair was exciting and pleasant. Mu only concern is that the time that I was judged was not the time listed on the paper I received.

    2. My judges happened to be very fair and helpful. They gave me questions relevant to my project, and they would ask me to explain something in detail if I did a bad job explaining it. While I'm not the majority among my students regarding my opinion, I found the judging process very helpful.

    3. I never actually received any comments from my judges, just questions.

    4. I never actually had much of the food there. I had breakfast before I went to the fair, and I didn't have lunch. From what I could tell from my friends, the food was good.

    5. I don't think the presentation was very entertaining. The presenter, while talking about an interesting subject, was not very engaging. She had a very monotone voice and changed slides at slow intervals, forcing the viewer to look at the same content for long periods of time.

    6. Both science fairs greatly helped me present. I generally improved each time I presented, and I actually feel that I would not have performed nearly as well in SCISEF if I didn't practice in the Mock Science Fair and at Norwalk.

    7. I had time to view other student projects. While a large amount of projects focused on life sciences and biology, there were many projectsa dealing with the physical sciences that were interesting.

    8. I actually talked with a large amount of students from other schools. Many of them presented to me, others gave me advice for my project.

    9. There isn't much to prepare students aside from more practice. While helpful, I don't think extra practice would work, because many of the students would find it unnecessary.

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  2. Sricharan:
    The SCISEF fair was overall successful in allowing for the presentation of multiple great projects. The fair was enjoyable specifically because I was able to talk to other students about their projects, and the fair definitely met my expectations. The fair was very similar to my last experience at SCISEF and was just as professional, yet somehow relaxed as before. The judging process was interesting - judges arriving early were unexpected, but created a more informal atmosphere to the fair. However, the judges always asked to look at my poster before my presentation and were generally curious and interested in my project. The judges seemed to be fair in observing my project and were helpful in allowing me to express some major parts of the projects (ex. purpose). The most helpful comment from the judges was when they asked what purpose my project served, and I cannot recall a least helpful comment, except their statement that they were my judges. Food was good, I guess (cookies=yummyliccccious). The keynote presentation was interesting in topic, with a very enthusiastic presenter, however it was not as engaging as the Batman's. The Mock & Norwalk Science Fairs allowed me to find which points of my presentation were most relevant in order to make my presentation smoother and concise but detailed. I learned that I could continue analysis for my project over a larger period of time to analyze the effects of temperature on chorophyll and POC concentrations. Also, a project about the use of MnO2 particles to improve a solar cell to produce hydrogen, because I had seen it before and because it was an interesting use of nanoparticles. No contact with foreign students because they were at the other side of the gym. There is not much else that can be done to prepare for science fairs - what we do now is very good.

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  3. Ben Staniewicz
    1. I enjoyed scisef and had fun. It met my expectations and was similar to last year which I also enjoyed.
    2. There were two rounds of judging. The judges asked questions and were polite. However, one group showed up 30mins earlier than it was supposed to and we were not prepared.
    3. The judges saying that we should have been prepared because we were late was the least helpful comment. The most helpful was when an Asian judge (although hard to understand) asked us what the goal of the project was and what we were trying to achieve in the end.
    4. I didn’t eat breakfast but had lunch. The wraps were ok but not great. The pizza at Norwalk was much better. However, the cookies were good and made up for the sandwiches.
    5. The keynote presentation was interesting but boring. She took too long to say what she could have said in half the time. I was having a hard time staying awake. She did seem very enthusiastic about her topic, though.
    6. At the time of the mock science fair, we did not have any solidworks design or data. That was the part I presented so the mock science fair prepared me very little.
    7. I learned things about my project afterwards when Zhang and I talked to Mr. Zhao afterwards. He suggested using a honeycomb structure and aluminum 2024, both of which we will consider before presenting at the expo on Saturday.
    8. I didn’t have time to talk to any students from other schools. More amity students were here and all posters adjacent to mine were amity students.
    9. The only thing to do better is make judges come on time or eliminate the whole round system so that no one is late.

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  4. 1. SCISEF was much more professional than Norwalk. It was much larger too.
    2. The judges were clearly paying attention to the projects. they asked many question.
    3. The most helpful comment was from my first set of judges. One of them threw many great ideas about my next project at me. The least helpful ones came from the second set, because the just asked questions to clarify things.
    4. The breakfast was good, but I was not a fan of the wraps for lunch.
    5. She had good content, but it was lengthy and not very engaging.
    6. They helped me hone my presenting skills.
    7. I learned what further purpose my project could have. Unfortunately, I didn't see many other peoples' projects.
    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?

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  5. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

    SCISEF met my expectations. My judges were approximately on time (my first group was 15 minutes early, which was pushing it...that made me sweat a lot). SCISEF 2013 was similar to my other experiences since nothing went wrong, although the keynote speaker was certainly more enthusiastic then past ones.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?

    I have not gotten my ballots back yet, but I think my judges were fair. A couple judges were especially helpful because they pointed out possible specific aspects (necrotic cell death vs. apoptotic cell death) of my study that I could investigate in future studies, although they may have taken off points because I didn't include that in my actual poster.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?

    The most helpful comment I got was question about whether I had distinguished between cells that had undergone necrotic (pre-mature) death and cells that had undergone apoptosis. I did not really have an unhelpful comment.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    I wish we had more than just bagels…
    Lunch was OK; everything tasted kind of bland except for the tuna sandwiches.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation on "Rivers on Drugs"? Explain.
    I really enjoyed the Keynote presentation since the speaker excelled at emphasizing the amount of drugs and chemicals that were in the river. She was able to effectively convey why the stuff she is finding in the river is bad for the local ecosystem, and ultimately, humans as well.

    6. In what way do you think the Mock Science Fair and/or Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare you?

    The Mock Science Fair helped me review my presentation. The Mock Science Fair showed if there were any inconsistencies or flow issues with my presentation, which I then fixed later on.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair? Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

    I learned that cells can undergo necrotic death in addition to apoptotic death. For next year, I include a method of distinguishing necrotic cells from apoptotic cells when implementing the drug combinations. I did not have time to view other student projects since I was too busy looking for my lab notebook and binder :o

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

    No, I did not get a chance to talk to other students from other schools since I was too busy making sure the judges had not arrived at my poster yet.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    I think the amount of time we commit to practicing our presentations is enough to well prepare students for upcoming science fairs.

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  6. I thought the fair was very enjoyable and fun. The fair met my expectations and it was similar to last years fair since in went during the public hour. The judging process went smoothly and I was there on time for my presentation. The judges were fair but one group was more helpful than then other. One helpful comment from the judges was that they asked me to try with audio information first than doing visual information first. I personally didn't like the food but the cookies were the best things there. The presentation on rivers on drugs would have been better if it were presented differently. They way she presented made many people fell asleep. Also, she talked for a very long time and it seemed as if people lost interest in listening. The preparation in class helped me because it helped me know how long to speak and what to say and I was comfortable speaking with the them. I learned many new thing about my project and if I change the testing procedure, it can make a difference with the result. I didn't view many projects but most of them were very impressive. I didn't speak with any other student from other school because I didn't have a chance to. I think if you prepare the student to speak with others than classmates, it would better prepare the students to talk to the Judges without any fear.

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  7. 1. Scicef was fun. It was very well organized and was very easy to get the drift on what was going on. It was a very enjoyable experience.

    2. The judges were fine. One of mine didn't speak great English but they were fine. The times were a little misleading.

    3. The judges didn't comment much but they recommended that i could have used linear regretion and my results would be more "true"

    4. The breakfast was good but i wish that they had more options to eat. The same with lunch, although it was very good, there wasn't much variety.

    5. I saw how the keynote presenter was talking about something very important but it didn't tap into my range of interest. It was very well put together but i found that is was boring.

    6. I knew what i was going to say which made presenting a lot better wince i wan't doing improve.

    7. I saw many student projects and i saw the wide variety of them. It was very interesting to ssee what they were doing and their results that they got. It gave me a few ideas for next year.

    8. During Scicef, i didn't talk to kids from other schools because people around me were all from Amity and i didn't walk around much.

    9. The mock science fair is really the only thing that i did to prepare and i can't think of any thing else that would help.

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  8. 1) 1) the science fair was a very fun and exciting experience. The judges were chill and gave good feedback.the fair did meet my expectations

    2) the judging process was okay. The judges sometimes came at wrong times but they were very helpful.

    3) I can't remember

    4) The lunch was very good and the wraps were tasty. The breakfast was also good except there wasn't much diversity with there only being bagels to choose from.

    5) I didn't enjoy the keynote presentation

    6) I believe the Norwalk science fair helped me prepare because I was able to present to actual judges.

    7) I didn't learn anything new about my project

    8) i did not talk to students from other schools

    9) I think the preparation was great and there is no need to make any change

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  9. 1. My overall impression of SCISEF was very positive. It seemed very organized and was very enjoyable all together. I enjoyed many things, for example, seeing all of the other students' projects was very exciting. The fair met, if not exceeded, my expectations. It was different from what I expected because I had thought it would have been a lot less fun. This was my overall impression of SCISEF.

    2. The judging process felt to be a bit unorganized. For example, my 2nd set of judges came one hour and fifteen minutes before their scheduled time: 10 minutes before my scheduled first set of judges came. (Someone was a no-show) This meant I had to give back-to-back presentations. This wasn't a big deal, and was fine in the end. The judges however were very supportive, and were actually overall very helpful. They were very fair.

    3. A few of the judges in both rounds actually made the same very helpful remark. They suggested that I had all of the test subjects go under the same type of music. The least helpful comment was regarding my graph. The comment in general didn't really make sense, even after inquiring further more about the comment.

    4. The food overall was good. I actually didn't eat breakfast, but the wraps at lunch were fine. The cookies were very good though.

    5. The keynote speaker's topic was interesting, but I feel that she did not do a good job of communicating her topic in a timely fashion. It sort of dragged on for the majority of the time she spoke. It was also a very long time that she talked.

    6. I think that Norwalk and the Mock Science Fairs prepared me for SCISEF, but to some extent. They definitely helped me with talking to complete strangers, but to feel the full feeling of mSCISEF, you sort of just have to experience it for yourself.

    7. I learned more about my project than I could have known before SCISEF. The judges told me that I could improve it for the next fair with one more trial with each test subject experiencing all of the environments. I did look at other projects and there were a few that definitely stuck out. For example, one was about a prosthetic hand that had great precision, which was very interesting to me.

    8. I did speak to a few students at the fair, but one whose project as Reed Morgan. His project was very different from all of the other projects that were presented, which is what I guess made it so interesting.

    9. I feel as though it is a bit impossible to make the students better prepared. I don't think more mock science fairs are necessary, because it will just seem irrational to the students. As I previously mentioned, to get the full experience of a science fair and to get ready for one is to go to the fair and sort of wing it. Just keep doing what is going on, and that should definitely help students get as prepared as they possibly can.

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  10. Kevin Dardik

    1. Overall, SCISEF was fun. Specifically, I enjoyed talking to people (with my friends and multiple judges) and listening to some other presentations.

    2. The judges were helpful, although they did not come at the right time. The first came half an hour early, and the next judges came half an hour late, but they themselves were very helpful and friendly.

    3. The most helpful comment was when one judge told me about an iPhone app that could measure how restful your sleep was. Although I had heard of it, he told me more about it. None of my judges said anything that wasn’t helpful.

    4. Everything but the wraps and grapefruit juice were good.

    5. The topic was interesting, but the speaker was a little boring.

    6. The mock science fair helped by letting us practice presenting, which was helpful. Also, having people ask you questions about your poster is helpful.

    7. I didn’t really learn anything about my project, but I did learn more about presenting and also some other information. I listened to some other students presenting, and one that stood out was about a more efficient way of getting electricity in developing countries.

    8. I did not have time to talk to any students from a different school.

    9. I think that having another mock science fair would be helpful, especially if it were to be with all the science research classes.

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  11. Matthew McKenna
    #1: My overall impression of the fair was very good. The judges were nice and respectful, and they helped me along in my presentation. The science fair was what I expected this time because it was a very busy atmosphere, and there were many students.
    #2: The judges offered many suggestions, and they were always respectful towards my project. They were very fair, and they gave me many ideas as to what I should have done with my project.They also gave me ideas as to new, related projects for my next fair.
    #3: The most helpful comments from the judges were their comments regarding what could possibly be causing an increase in concentration while chewing gum. They said that the reason gum could be increasing concentration was because it was a habit. They also hypothesized that any other habit would have the same effect, and this could be a good basis for future projects. These judges also had no unhelpful comments.
    #4: This chips and cookies at lunch were very good, and the bagels at breakfast were also good.The wraps, however, were very bad, and I would suggest a change for future years.
    #5: The keynote presentation was on a good and interesting topic, but the speaker talked for too long, and I was starting to lose interest about halfway through.
    #6: I think Norwalk prepared me for Scisef much more than the mock science fair did. This prepared me very well for Scisef because this was the first time my project had ever been judged, and this judging process let me know what to expect when I presented in Scisef. Also, this was an actual science fair with students from other towns and other presentations, and this prepared me for the atmosphere of Scisef.
    #7: I learned that I should use statistics in my data analysis, and I can use this for my next fairs. I also learned that you should always stay at your poster because the judges can come at any time, regardless of what you were told. I did view other projects, but none of them made a lasting impression because I could not understand most of them.
    #8: I did not talk to any of the students from the other schools.
    #9: We can better prepare students for science fairs by making Norwalk mandatory for freshmen students because I got all of my practice at Norwalk, and that fair was the reason that I was prepared.

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  12. Matt Kachmar
    4/30/13

    Please reflect on the following (each question in detail):

    What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

    I really enjoyed the SCISEF Fair, and thought it was a really good learning experience. As I am new to science research, it was a fantastic opportunity to learn about the process of the science fairs, and to see the high caliber of others' projects. I enjoyed seeing other peoples' projects, presenting my presentation, and the food. It definitely met my expectations. Since, I haven't experienced such a large science fair or really any science fair in the past, I can't say how it is similar or different really. It was definitely bigger than Norwalk, which was much more laid back.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?

    the judging process could have been revised, because the judges both came very very early, when I was not prepared in the mind set to present. They were somewhat helpful, by telling me improvements I might be able to do on my project.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?

    The most helpful comment from the judges was that I needed to focus on a specific question so I could really control what I was trying to study. They said that maybe two different studies were needed to determine either the engagement of the game or how well it taught students. The least helpful was when they asked what I was actually teaching the students, as that was not the focus of my study, after I explained my pilot study.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?

    The food was fantastic. The sandwiches and cookies were the best part.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation on "Rivers on Drugs"? Explain.

    I thought the Keynote presentation was very interesting overall. I was really interested to learn about how our rivers are being polluted with drugs. But, the speaker may have spoke a little too long.

    6. In what way do you think the Mock Science Fair and/or Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare you?

    The other science fairs prepared me because they gave me an idea of how to present, and to determine what to say. It also helped me be less nervous when I was presenting.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair? Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

    I learned that my poster should have been organized better, to go in the order that I wanted to say things, because I wasn't talking in the order of the this on my poster. I can improve it for the next fair by rearranging it into the order I wanted to talk, and ton make the paper stand out from the background. Some of the bigger, more in depth projects left a lasting impression simply because of how knowledgeable the students were on their subject.

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

    No, I did not really talk to students to other schools. This was probably because the Amity groups were all clustered together.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?

    We could probably work on our research projects and the write up portions of them in class more, so we can collaborate more on our ideas.

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  13. Vinnie Silverman
    SCISEF was more of what I expected Norwalk to be like, and I really enjoyed it. I loved the amount of relaxing time we had during the fair. Though there were more presentations during SCISEF, I was comfortable being at my home school and didn’t really mind the extra presentation.
    The judges asked a lot of questions, some of which I didn’t know the answer to. However, most of these questions were very fair and helpful and they gave me lots of new options to continue my project or start new projects.
    The judges gave me many comments on how I could expand my experiment. Many of these were ideas that I hadn’t thought of previously. The least helpful comments were ones pertaining to mistakes that I made, which I was already aware of.
    The food was fine and relatively conveniently served after all of the presentations.
    The keynote presentation was very educational and had a lot of very useful information. However, the delivery of the information was relatively uninteresting and could have been better.
    Both of the previous “practice” fairs could have been improved with the asking of more questions. I think if I had more practice answering questions that I wasn’t prepared for, I would have done a better job presenting.
    I learned a lot about the psychological field that my project was based on, and how to improve my project. Like with the Norwalk fair, I didn’t have time to look at non-Amity projects.
    I spent most of my time talking with the other Amity students rather than the students from other schools.
    The students could be better prepared by being “grilled” with questions, similar to the way the judges at the actual fair ask questions. This way, the judges don’t seem as intimidating during the real fair.

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  14. I enjoyed scisef. I thought that it was well organized for the most part and was a great first year experience. I really enjoyed the atmosphere. I thought that it was competitive, but not intimidating. I wasn't really sure what to expect with the science fair because i have never been to one before, but I really enjoyed it.

    I felt that the judges were easy to talk to and present to. They did give me constructive criticism and gave me ideas for future work. I thought they were fair and professional without being " scary". I personally liked the judges that oversaw my project and i thought that they were really helpful

    The most helpful comment from the judges was that i needed to have more participants to get more data. Although i new this already, i felt that it was helpful to hear it from other people. I think the least helpful comment was that i have too many variables because the variables were controlled well.

    I didnt eat any if the food, but i think that there should have been hot beverages throughout the day.

    The speaker was very interesting, it was just to long to sit after a long day. The speaker also didn't really relate well to the students and spoke in a monotone voice. I thought that her project was very interesting though.

    The mock science fair and the norwalk science fair helped me in my presentation skills, i didn't feel nervous in front of the judges and i was able to talk more clearly with practice

    I didn't learn anything new about my project. I didn't really have time to look at other schools projects however i did like many of the posters design wise

    I did not get a chance to talk to anyone from the other schools

    I think you did a great job preparing us for the science fair


    Helen ruckes

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  15. 1. I enjoyed SCISEF Fair. It was professional and I was happy to share my research. I enjoyed how the projects were varied, the judges were much more helpful than Norwalk, and how the schedule was organized. Yes, the fair met my expectations. It was larger than Norwalk and more engaging for presenters.
    2. The judges at SCISEF were fair and gave great insight. I was able to converse and learn more about my field of research –Autism.
    3. The most helpful comment from the Judges were that I should try to understand the impact of my research on the actual individuals of autism, not only the caregivers. Also, they helped me understand the importance of autism research. The least helpful comment was that my abstract was predated and I forgot to state what the abbreviated ASD acronym stood for.
    4. The breakfast and lunch were fine. I enjoyed the bagels, and I loved the cookies. The wrap was good, too.
    5. Unfortunately, I have quite a small interest in environmental studies, so I didn’t particularly enjoy it. I thought the idea however, was quite interesting. However, the speaker didn’t speak engagingly and I personally think she talked too long, with too many details, not letting the audience grasp her main points. However, I still found the idea interesting.
    6. The Mock Science Fair helped prepare my vocal skills and how to present my poster to an audience. It helped me talk loudly while other projects were being presented simultaneously. Norwalk Science Fair was a great transition to prepare me for SCISEF. It made me comfortable with the presenting atmosphere and I felt more comfortable talking to the judges about my poster because of the Norwalk experience.
    7. I learned that my project would be affecting not only the caregivers, but the autism individuals as well. Therefore, to improve my project, I can try to evaluate the effect on the children as well. I was able to view other projects around me. Zhang Liu’s research on lyme disease left an impression because of its complexity and usefulness.
    8. Since Amity, our school, was situated in the same row, it was much easier to talk to my friends from our school and I did not feel the need to converse with other students.
    9. To better prepare students, we should practice more often, as practice makes perfect! But other than that, I felt prepared.

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  16. 1. I overall had a good impression of the SCISEF fair. I enjoyed that it was a bit more organized than the Norwalk fair.
    2. The judging process was much better than at Norwalk. All my judges had done some type of work related to the topic that my project was on, and they were fair and helpful. They overall gave helpful advice and suggestions that I can use to improve on my project. They also had an overall great amount of interest in what I found out and how I did the experiment.
    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was on my questionnaires and overall how I could make a better setup for them.
    4. The food was alright, and somewhat filling.
    5. I overall liked the topic of the keynote presentation. However, the delivery of it was rather too long and a little disorganized.
    6. The Mock fair and Norwalk fair helped me prepare for SCISEF because they allowed me to focus in on what parts were weak in my presentations.
    7. I learned that I could do for my questionnaires in the future. I can play around with the scales and their setup. I can also do a variety of repeating questions to make sure the participants are absolutely sure of their answers.
    8. I did not talk to students from other schools, only the ones from Amity.
    9. We can make more time for presentation practice through Mock fairs or during class in general.

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  17. 1. My overall impression of Norwalk was decent. It seemed very organized, but to the point where it felt sort of weird. I enjoyed looking at the other posters and talking with all the other presenters. It met my expectations. It met my anticipations by just having everyone present and wait for the judging to be over.

    2. The judging process felt to be a bit unorganized. For example, my judges seemed to just sort of walk over to me. It seemed a bit awkward, and the judges weren't very helpful.

    3. Both of my judges didn't really make any comments about my project. Even when they did, they weren't very unique or helpful.

    4. The food overall was better than SCISEF. The pizza and soda were good and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

    5. I think that Mock Science Fairs prepared me for Norwalk, but to some extent. They definitely helped me with talking to complete strangers, but to feel the full feeling of any science fair, you sort of just have to experience it for yourself.

    6. Since the judges weren't very engaging, I didn't learn anything about my project. I think the judges just need to talk to the students more, and sort of engage them. I looked at a few other projects, and the poster across from mine, Bradley Cage's was interesting because it was so complex.yy

    7. I did speak to a few students at the fair, but one was the fore mentioned one, it was very interesting and cool to me.


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  18. Harsha Lingareddy

    1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    -I thought the science fair went well. I enjoyed the 3 hour waiting At my poster it was really fun. The fair met my expectations. It was different from other fair because it was not organized and judges came early.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    - the judging process was awesome the judges were just about half hour early. The judges were nice and really helpful.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    - how to redesign my turbine to make it more efficient and how to control the movement.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    - it was good

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation on "Rivers on Drugs"? Explain.
    -it was probably the worst presentation I have seen. It made me sleep thought the whole presentation. I

    6. In what way do you think the Mock Science Fair and/or Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare you?
    - it helped me with getting an understanding the questions judges will ask and what information I should elaborate on.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair? Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?
    - I did learn that I should have a unbalance effect and see its effect. I did view some projects. The lasting impression was the archeology project because it was diffrent from other products.

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain
    -no

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    - have set times for judges.

    ReplyDelete
  19. 1.What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    My overall impression of the fair was that it went well! I enjoyed the time in between presentations, as well as the lunch! The fair did meet my expectations, and it was pretty much similar to the past fairs. Some judges were focused on my presentation, others were not, some came up to look over the board first, while others just asked for my presentation to begin.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    I think both sets of judges were very polite and somewhat attentive during my presentation – I remember in my freshman year the judges maintained eye contact with me during my presentation, so I decided to maintain my eye contact with the judges, however they tended to avoid my eye contact at points, and so I guess I might have made them uncomfortable? ^_^ Otherwise, they steered me towards possible future work and world applications.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    The most helpful comment was when someone asked my opinion on a child’s ability to memorize faces and recognize them. I believe this is a great area for research, as not much has been conducted. I suppose the least helpful was when a judge continuously asked me what the world application would be when I already told him multiple times.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    The food was on par, it was not too great or too mediocre.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation on "Rivers on Drugs"? Explain.
    I suppose the keynote presentation was okay, however, I believe her presentation would have had an improved effect on the audience if she did not rush through her presentation, which made her sound desperate, and that she did not use as many “ums” that she did. The field of study that she was in interested me, and I found her presentation to enhance my knowledge of the background.

    6. In what way do you think the Mock Science Fair and/or Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare you?
    I believe the Mock Science prepared me through rehearsing my project.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair? Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?
    I did not really learn anything “new” about my project – I’ve researched the background for two years, and I believe I have a solid grasp on the material. I did not have time to view the other projects, unfortunately, as I spend much time at my poster, or walking around the halls.

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.
    No, I did not communicate with other students from other schools, unfortunately, I believe the only time I did speak to some students was when I was clarifying the sign in area for a group of students.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    I believe the best thing to prepare students for the upcoming science fairs are to let them practice, over and over again. As the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.”

    -J. Zhu

    ReplyDelete
  20. 2. I really enjoyed the fair, the food, and the setup. I felt comfortable being around other Amity students. I had a difficult time with my first group of judges as they didn’t understand my project. One of the judges had trouble speaking English so it was hard for me to understand his questions. My second group of judges looked at my poster over before I presented, which I believe helped them to understand my project better. The most helpful comment was to add more criteria when defining self-efficacy because all participants could have said that they are effective in teaching critical thinking skills and technology fluency. The least helpful comment was asking for my IRB in paper when I had told them that we had an IRB from two institutions. The food was fulfilling and the cookies were delicious. I thought the keynote presentation was informative, however, very repetitive and long. There was too much information given which caused me to lose interest. Having the extra practice and suggestions from both the mock science fair and the Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare me even more. I learned how to explain my project better each time I presented. I did not have time to really look at other projects as I was practicing before my judges arrived. I would say the best preparation is to get more practice and practicing answering questions.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Noah Gallant

    1. Overall, I enjoyed SCISEF. I thought it was well executed, organized, and fun. The fair lived up to my expectations. I thought, as well, that it was a little more organized than last year, but just about the same experience. Although, the speaker this year was a little long-tongued and uninteresting.

    2. The judging process was very similar to last year, except that none of my judges looked at my poster without me pointing to certain points. The judges showed up slightly early although, which was a little annoying.

    3. The most helpful comment I received was a note from one of my judges telling me what they liked and disliked about my presenting skills/presentation. This helped me to improve my presentation for the next round of judges. The least helpful comment was something along the lines of 'can we see some results'.

    4. Delicious.

    5. I didn't necessarily enjoy the keynote speaker this year. She took a very long time and didn't seem to highlight any topics relevant to young scientists, nor anything remotely interesting either. I thought she could have been more engaging if anything.

    6. I believe the Mock Science Fair helped get me used to negative comments and or constructive criticism from judges/people I present to.

    7. I didn't necessarily learn anything new about my project from SCISEF. I did not have much time either to view other students' works.

    8. I did not get a chance to speak with students from other schools as the judges came at seemingly random times so I had to stay ready by my poster.

    9. I believe a more engaging speaker, a little more organized awards ceremony, and a larger check-in table would help improve upon SCISEF.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Jennifer (Shiyu) ZhuangApril 30, 2013 at 2:03 PM

    I thought this year’s fair overall was much better than my past experiences. Although the judges seemed to be lacking, it was more organized and interesting than past years. I really enjoyed the socialization factor of the fair, allowing us to interact with both our classmates and those from other schools. However, the food was kind of bad, and although we were provided with a schedule, it was not very organized.
    In general, the fair exceeded my expectations. It seemed to be more fun than last year’s and the judges were definitely better than past years; they were better informed and many understood the context of the projects presented. Some also provided helpful comments. However, due to the small variety, the fairness is questionable for many participants. My only complaint about the judges was the lack of judges to provide more variety and the fact that they did not follow the timeline, often showing up half an hour earlier.
    The most helpful comment I received was their considerations for the future of my project, and one even provided really thought provoking questions by inquiring about single fluorescences capable of reacting to calcium changes. The least helpful was probably about the context of my project as I sometimes felt repetitive talking about my project.
    I did not eat breakfast and arrived late to lunch so a lot of the good sandwiches were already gone. Personally, it didn’t appeal to my taste buds. Plus, I missed the cookies! NOOOOOO!!
    The keynote presentation seemed kind of boring to me, but probably because I kept comparing her to batman. Overall, although it was interesting, it seemed to be more of a plug for the entirety of her research and included a lot of information. I don’t think she appealed as much to a younger audience but overall, it was informational.
    The Mock Science Fair helped to prepare me for the overall poster presentation, but it was too early in the year to contribute to SCISEF. Perhaps the actual science fairs helped to prepare me more.
    I learned about a new fluorescence capable of highlighting in response to calcium, specifically used for neurons. It seems like an interesting idea that I want to search more into. Since there are no more fairs for me, I don’t really have anything to improve on! It’s perfect :D In all seriousness, I can probably be more logical in my presentation order. However, since we were grouped by school, I was too busy socializing to view other projects from other schools and to chat with their students.
    I think to better prepare us, we should put the mock science fair at the beginning! I know it was originally planned that way and only changed due to the Nemo snowstorm.

    ReplyDelete
  23. 1. I thought SCISEF was well organized. I like how SCISEF tells us participants the time frame the judges would arrive, which gave us plenty of time to practice beforehand. I don't think the fair differed from last year. It was just loud, and sometimes I could not hear my judges.

    2. The judges arrived on time, and the first group examined my poster for a brief moment. The second group did not, but then both groups did the same thing; they let me present and promptly asked me some questions afterwards. Most of the questions were relevant. But there was just this one woman who gave me an extremely intimidating look the entire time I presented...It was a bit bothersome.

    3. I don't believe that the judges gave me any advice that was useful or not helpful. Most of the questions were like "Where did your inspiration come from?", and questions similar to that.

    4. Breakfast was bland. Bagels weren't enough, they should have added at least some fruit. Lunch was alright, I really liked getting free school cookies and the wraps were pretty good.

    5. I did not enjoy the presentation. She tried to cram too much information in one presentation and it didn't appeal to me. Also, unlike bat guy, she did not motivate students into becoming great scientists (well, she tried, but she probably spend a total of 2 minutes on it). She should also learn when to stop taking questions... Her presentation was just so.long.

    6. It helped reinforce the feeling of presenting to a small crowd and answering questions.

    7. To be truthful, I did not learn anything new about my project and I also did not view any other student presentations, although I really enjoyed seeing that poster with the duck-dinosaur background from a distance.

    8. No, I did not talk with students from other schools, but I did at JSHS (who I also saw at SCISEF... but from afar...)!

    9. I just think the Mock Science is best right before SCISEF, but everything I think went pretty well. Yeah Ms. Day!

    ReplyDelete
  24. 1. My overall impression was very good. I specifically really enjoyed the food, especially the cookies. I was expecting a better guest speaker, but nobody really compares to the Batman. I liked how this fair was very similar to last year, so I was very familiar with the layout.

    2. The judges were very nice and courteous. They were not very helpful, but they did ask some good questions.

    3. All of their comments were pretty useless, all just really superficial type things. There was not really a most and least helpful.

    4. I didn't try breakfast, but the wraps were very good, and the cookies were very delicious!!!

    5. I didn't like it. It was very boring and not entertaining. To be blunt, I found the speaker portion dreadful.

    6. All the practice was very helpful, and as a group we did very well, even with very limited practice.

    7. No, I didn't learn anything new, but I wish the judges had given us some better feedback.

    8. No I didn't. The other kids kind of scared me.

    9. I felt very prepared for SCISEF, so I do not think there is really anything else that needs to be practiced.

    ReplyDelete
  25. 1. Overall, SCISEF was very well done. I enjoyed the presentation in the auditorium, as well as the time in between presentations. It was very similar to last year’s event, and thus met my expectations.
    2. The judging process was very good. The judges were very attentive and willing to listen to our presentation, and did not interrupt. However, they did not look at the poster before hand, and they came to us 30 minutes early, leaving us scrambling to catch up. Additionally, it was hard to hear their comments, which I imagine went both ways, leading to their inability to hear us properly.
    3. Many of the questions were directed at Ben S., and thus I had trouble hearing them. However, one of the most helpful comments was a question on why the Corsair was even being updated, as that was something I felt that we could have done a better job explaining. The least helpful question was just to restate the process of picking materials, as that was something that we had explained beforehand. That question may have been a product of their inability to hear.
    4. The breakfast and lunch were good. The cookies were especially nice.
    5. They Keynote presentation was interesting, but it was very repetitive of many other presentations that we had already heard, and the presenter had a lot of information that she was rushing through.
    6. I did not go to Norwalk, and the Mock Science Fair was not as helpful because in the time between the poster and material presented had changed a lot. However, it did alert us to the fact that we needed to be very judicious about how we divided the presentation between the members and how each part of it flowed into the next.
    7. For the next fair, we need to improve our justification of material choice. Jordan’s project, The Prediction of Cancer Tissue Origin Based on Molecular Sequencing Evidence Using a Machine Learning Base Classifier Algorithm, made a lasting impression, because it showed me that you could have a computer science project for fairs as well.
    8. I did not talk to other students from other schools, because after the first judge group came early, we realized that we needed to stay at our poster in case the same case occurred again.
    9. To better prepare people for fairs, we could have more grilling questions to simulate the judges.

    -Arpita

    ReplyDelete
  26. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

    As a Senior, it was definitely less intimidating than usual. I enjoyed seeing my peers compete, and the cookies were pretty sweet. The fair definitely met my expectations. Unfortunately the guest was not as good as last year. The Judges were equally hit or miss as in past years.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?

    Some of the judges were kind but offered little feedback. Others were obsessive over obscure components, this year it was different statistical analysis methods, instead of actually commenting on or caring about the project. I understand that the judges each have their own specializations, but the bizarrely off topic questions and comments I have received from at least one judge every year is frustrating.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?

    Maybe I should start using this in my classroom

    What is the mathematical process for calculating standard deviation.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?

    The bagels were good, but the juice at Amity is often very bitter. The cookies were great, but the wraps were lackluster.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation on "Rivers on Drugs"? Explain.

    I did not. The topic was okay, but the speaker herself was pretty boring. Compared to the AWESOME bat guy from last year, this was disappointing.

    6. In what way do you think the Mock Science Fair and/or Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare you?

    Considering the mock science fair was a while ago, it helped mostly by motivating me to make things like the poster.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair? Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

    I didn’t really learn anything new about the project. The projects I viewed were very cool this year. I particularly enjoyed the one about robotic teachers. The results were very relevant to me, considering I did a similar study my sophomore year.

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

    No, Amity people are way more fun to chill with.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?

    Prepare them for the super bizarre topics judges like to bring up. We should practice presenting with “hecklers” in the audience to simulate what happens in the real world once students are comfortable with their presentations


    TJ Meehan

    ReplyDelete
  27. 1. The SCISEF Fair was an overall positive experience. I enjoyed looking at other students projects and also enjoyed when other students asked me about my project. The food was delicious, as always, and the judging process was very well done. Every student, judge, and faculty member seemed genuinely happy to be at the fair.

    2. I found the judging process to be a bit unorganized. I was supposed to be judged rounds 2 and 5, however, my judges seemed to come at rounds 1 and 2. While I was preparing for my 2nd set of judging at 12:00, the 2nd group of judges came at 10:30, and I wasn't fully prepared. One judge, who forgot his glasses in his car, continually asked me to explain a graph that he couldn't see.

    3. The judges asked me if I would continue my research in college, and when I told them "yes," they asked personal questions about what school I was attending, whether I've joined a lab there or not, etc.

    4. I didn't eat breakfast at the fair, however, I did take part in eating lunch. The food was excellent. Those little wraps are SOOO GOOD.

    5. The presentation was unfortunately VERY boring. Although waste water treatments plants may appear interesting to some people, her monotone voice and unengaging method of presenting left me falling asleep. As my eyes stared at the same powerpoint slide for 20 minutes, I resorted to poking TJ in the stomach. I'd rather watch paint dry.

    6. I think that the practice I did during the Mock Science Fair and at home prepared me for presenting in front of the judges. The feedback I received from my peers helped me critique my project, and therefore, provided me with a better overall presentation.

    7. I learned that my project may come into use after the recent Boston bombings, as prosthetic are now on the rise.

    8. I had time to view other student projects. Many of them were very interesting. Others were...funny. Overall, student presentations were very entertaining, and students were passionate about sharing them with others.

    9. Practice makes perfect! I think the practice we do in class and with our peers prepares us well for these science fairs. I wouldn't change anything.

    ReplyDelete
  28. SCISEF went smoothly this year just like last. One suggestion would be to have more tables for signing in because it was quite crowded around the tables. My judges did not provide any advice as to things I could change or add to my project. Overall, they were extremely kind and positive. Both breakfast and lunch were fine. Nothing too bad, nothing too good.Although her topic was interesting, she was an extremely ineffective speaker and presenter. She spent too much time on each slide. The NCC was ineffective in preparing me, however, the MSF did. I did not learn anything about my project.I did not talk to people from other schools.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Jacob Gibbons-Morales

    1. Overall I enjoyed SCICEF. I liked the fact that many of my friends projects were around mine. This gave me many people to talk to while waiting to present my projects. The close location allowed me to stay around my project while still being able to socialize during the waiting time. The fair was what I expected. I had asked other students that had attended before what to expect and there description were accurate.

    2. The judging process went very well. They seemed to be interested in my project. They also gave good suggestions and were fair. Although my second group of judges didn't want to look at my poster before my presentation. That made my second presentation worse because I didn't have time to think about what is was going to say.

    3. The most helpful comment was on statistic I could use to help validate my results. The least helpful suggestion was to look into other sport penalties. I had no interest in other sports.

    4.I had to leave early for a soccer game so I was unable to experience the lunch. I also had eaten breakfast at home so I didn't eat any food there.

    5. As I said I had to leave early and didn't here the key note speaker.

    6. The mock science fair helped me prepare by giving me practice on how to present my project. Also the times we did the mock science fair were there was background notice helped prepare me for the environment at the science fair.

    7. My judges gave me many ideas on how to improve my project. If I was to continue my project I would implement the suggestion. Other students projects were very impressive. In a way it intimidated me because there titles were more complicated then my entire project.

    8. I didn't talk to people from other schools I just talked to people from my school.

    9. I would say that the only thing we could do would be maybe do the mock science fair were we present to adults to get us better prepared.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Dana Chung

    1.Overall, SCISEF left a great lasting impression on me. I especially enjoyed presenting and sharing my project to other classmates, judges and parents. The fair met my expectations! For the most part, it ran smoothly and professionally. Personally, I think that it was even more successful than last year! It was similar to what I have experienced in the past. This year, I especially appreciated the extra chairs that were available for the presenters. Overall, I believe that SCISEF was a complete success!
    2.Personally, I thought the judging process was a little hectic. The first set of judges was on time and very intent but the second set of judges was thirty-minutes early. Although I was ready to present, it was a slight inconvenience. Overall, the judges were fair and helpful. I had one judge who had a patient who underwent treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia. The judges gave good feedback. All my judges were nice and appreciative of my project.
    3.The most helpful comment I received from the Judges was advice and comments on the second part of the project. They recommended and gave advice for the questionnaires that I am currently giving out to the patients. Overall, they were very enthusiastic and gave invaluable advice
    4.The food was very good! I didn’t have breakfast, but at lunch, I had a turkey-cheese wrap and it was delicious. The cookies and drinks available were also very refreshing.
    5.The Keynote presentation on “Rivers on Drugs” was very interesting. The speaker was very engaging and obviously loved the topic she was talking about. She successfully brought attention to the increasing issue of drugs on various ecosystems. The presentation was very interesting!
    6.The mock science fair helped me practice presenting my presentation. Presenting my poster/topic multiple times helped me immensely. Although I didn’t go to Norwalk Science Fair, I felt that I was very prepared for SCISEF
    7. My judges were fairly interested in my project. They advised to collect more data to provide more valid results (doing so currently). Also, to improve my presentation for the next fair, I need to improve my poster design. The photographs on my poster need captions and the layout needs to be edited.
    8.I did not really have time during the fair to talk to other students from other schools. In the future, I will definitely talk to other students.
    9. To prepare students better for future science fairs, it would be a good idea to prepare students with questions that the judges might ask. If we had a session during class where we all asked questions that judges would ask us, we may be better prepared for answering their questions at upcoming science fairs.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Barak
    1. The science fair was set up in a very fancy manner that I did not expect. It was on a grander scale than I would have expected. The food was great, and I especially enjoyed the free cranberry juice. I found it very well organized.

    2. All of my judges were nice. They treated me as if I was a mature adult. Most of their questions referred to my project, but at times they seemed to get off topic.

    3. The most helpful comment by the judges was a suggestion to use my research articles as constants on my project. The least helpful comments was when they started talking about their kids, and one of the judges told me that their kid was great at fencing.

    4. The food was very good. The bagels were nice, and the wraps were pretty good. I especially liked the drinks. I personally had at least 7 cranberry juice.

    5. The keynote speaker had a very extensive speech that went into great detail. It might have been a bit long, but it was very thorough.

    6. The mock science fair was a great experience to practice presenting my poster. It let me practice my presenting skills, and I could get feedback from my class mates.

    7. The judges feedback helped me get a better perspective on my project. I got inspirations for possible future projects. I thought that the posters with the giant print outs were pretty cool. One person printed out a giant dinosaur/ bird thing which looked awesome.

    8. I had very little time to mingle with people from other schools although I did have time to meet a few more people. Maybe if we had more time to mingle and do " team building activities" we would make more connections.

    9. I think possibly we can organize the science fair a little better so we would not just sit next to our posters waiting for our judges. Maybe if they had a bell go off every, lets say, 30 minutes so the judges would be more organized.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Patrick Neumann

    1. The SCISEF Fair was very well overall. All of it was fun and enjoyable except for the keynote speaker at the end.

    2. The judges varied from very nice to very mean. My first set of judges were very nice. The second set of judges seemed that they just wanted to get over with that process. They didn't really care about the projects.

    3. The most helpful comment was that my project was very good. However, the least helpful comment was that they said that my project still needed a lot of work done on it.

    4. The food there was better than Norwalk, but it still wasn't very good. The chips were bland, and the wrap was small.

    5. The keynote presentation was very long and very boring. My dad fell asleep within 10 minutes, and I almost fell asleep many times.

    6. The mock science fair gave me a good chance to realize how my presentation would go. The Norwalk Science Fair showed me all of the major flaws in my presentation, so I was prepared for SCISEF.

    7. I learned that m project always needs improvement. Everything can get better in every way, no matter what it is. I learned that it still needs improvement.

    8. I did not talk to students from other schools. I did not have any time to walk around in other areas and view other students' posters.

    9. Students could be more prepared for the science fair by having another mock science fair.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Victoria Li

    1. I thought it was rather large and more 'professional' than the Norwalk Science Fair. I enjoyed the time we had in between to relax. The fair did meet my expectations because

    2. The judges were nice and gave me suggestions and helpful advice about how to improve my project.

    3. The most helpful comment I got was that the normal model's roof should be more accurate and closer to an actual roof.

    4. I'm not really a bagel person.

    5. I thought the topic was interesting, but the presentation was a bit monotonous.

    6. The mock science fair prepared me for this because I was able to practice my speech. The Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare me for the judging process.

    7. See question 3 for parts 1 and 2 of the question. I did have time to view other projects and the ones that stood out to me were the ones from Darien and Sacred Heart, which were mostly medical sciences.

    8. I was able to talk to students from other schools that were right across from me, and I got to know them.

    9. I think that for the next science fair, we could possibly have more mock science fairs to better prepare us.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Nick Beckwith

    1) My experience at SCISEF was a good one. The presentations (at least for me) were spaced well, so I had enough time to prepare for both groups of judges. It was a little less stressful than I anticipated. I only had to present two times, where previous to the event I thought I would have to present more than twice.
    2) My experience with the judges was a good one. Both groups of judges were kind and helpful in regards to my project and what I could improve on. The only complaint I have is that both groups of judges were fifteen minutes earlier than the projected presentation time given to me.
    3) I didn't receive too many comments on my presentations, just mainly questions. However, the most helpful comment I receive was to gather more participants to improve the conclusion and make my data more concrete. My most least helpful question was to better display my data, even though I had a data table displaying all of my data.
    4)I did not eat breakfast at the school, so I don't know how it was. However, I did hear people say that there should have been more than just bagels. The lunch, though, had a good variety of choices. The wraps, chips, and juice combo was chosen by a lot of students. The cookies were good too!
    5)In my opinion, I thought that the presentation had an interesting topic, but I felt that it could have been presented better. The presentation was too long, and after about three hours of standing in the gymnasium, I feel that the length brought down the attention-span of the viewers.
    6) Unfortunately, I did not attend the Norwalk Science Fair, but I did experience the Mock Science Fair. The practice fair helped me prepare what I was going to say for when SCISEF came around.
    7)I didn't really learn anything new about my project, but I did come up with some improvements for my project. First, I would increase the number of participants I tested. In addition, I would try to keep more constants within my experiment. Unfortunately, I did not get to hear any other students' presentations.
    8)I didn't talk to any students from other schools. My positioning in the gym left me surrounded by Amity students, so I only saw other Amity projects.
    9)I felt that the preparation for the fair was enough to make me feel comfortable. I felt "at home" when presenting, and my presentations overall were impressive for the judges (or so it seemed.)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Eli Silvert

    1. My overall impression of SCISEF was that it was a great science fair where there was muck knowledge shared. Personally, I walked around and read several of the posters--learning lots. Also, the fair seemed very organized to me. I enjoyed the presentations and getting feed back, which I had never thought of, from the judges. The fair exceeded my expectations. This was my first science fair and I anticipated most of it, although I thought we would have to present more.

    2. The judging process was fun for me and a great learning experience. This judges gave me helpful suggestions. Presenting in front of these new judges gave me a new experience. First, the judges looked at my poster. Then, I presented it which took 5-10 minutes. Lastly, they asked me questions for about 10 minutes.

    3. The most helpful comment for me was to use a different progression line that best fit my data-- one that had a more accurate "r" value. The last helpful comment was when I was told that I had a good project because it didn't make my presentation any better.

    4. I thought the food was pretty good. I looked the bagels for breakfast and the drinks. Although, I wasn't a big fan of the veggie wrap.

    5. I thought the key note speaker presentation was very informative. However, I did think it was a bit boring because it was so long. If the information was condensed, I think it would've been a great presentation.

    6. The mock science fair helped my presentation skills greatly. I didn't attend the Norwalk science fair, although I'm sure the additional practice would have been beneficial.

    7. I didn't learn anything new about my project at this science fair. I did have some time to look at other projects. Several projects about cancer left a big impression on me.

    8. I didn't talk to any students from other schools because I was enjoying talking to kids from my own school.

    9. I think the only way we could be better prepared would be to get even more practice through mock science fairs.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Arvene Golbazi

    1. I liked how the fair's registration and set up was very well organized. I was hoping for a little more variety in their culinary choices, but the cookies and chips were sufficient to meet my needs. It was extremely similar to last year, where everyone was very anxious in anticipation of the judges, and then hung out around the cafeteria after the judging for the rest of the time.

    2. The judging process was not done to my liking, where certain judges from completely different fields of science were grouped together and forced to judge projects which they had little idea about, and which they did not appreciate to the full extent. The judges were helpful to me in critiquing my presentation skills.

    3. The most helpful was when they suggested I should use other metals for my project, which was useful. The least helpful was when they told me to always have eye contact with the judges, although this was a slightly irrelevant point and the judges didn't even discuss my actual project.

    4. Didn't eat breakfast, but the lunch sandwiches were not that good, but luckily the cookies were able to take the taste out. The chips were baked, which I didn't really like.

    5. The River on Drugs presentation was initially intriguing, but the speaker did not address the audience at all and almost everyone lost interest within the time frame of the title slide. However, the actual presentation regarding the dangers of drugs in our ecosystem was an important topic.

    6. I was unable to attend Norwalk, but the mock science was a good experience for practicing my poster presentation, considering I had not looked at it for a while. Along with this, the mock science fair showed me what presentation skills I needed to work on, like eye contact.

    7. I might use graphene next year in substitute of nanotubes, and also look at the other properties of carbon nanotubes, like strength. I wasn't able to look at anyone else's project except for one regarding dinosaurs, which was interesting.

    8. Generally, no one from Amity really approached other schools because we were all grouped together, and didn't mingle near the back of the gym where the other schools were.

    9. We can teach them to speak to judges in a simpler manner and explain more of the project in order to make them understand more of the data from your experiment. Also, bring your own food.

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  37. 1. My overall impression of the fair was that I like it. I enjoyed the way that the fair was organized, with the registration and then setting up the posters. I also liked how there was a good amount of time for eating breakfast for those who wanted to. The fair did meet my expectations which were not super high, remembering last year. The fair this year was very similar to last year, but this year it was a little more organized than last year.
    2. The judging process was okay, but there were several instances when judges showed up very early (30-60 minutes) and still expected us to be there, even though we could be i9n the bathroom and have a legitimate reason to not be at our poster. Most of the judges were fair, but there were a few that were a bit rude and did not ask the questions in a professional manner.
    3. We did not get any helpful or unhelpful comments from judges, most of the judges just asked questions.
    4. The bagels were okay, for being untoasted. The lunch was not very good; the wraps were below average and sandwiches with the same contents just on rolls should have been done. The chips were baked, but they should have been the original lays because they are more popular and less would be left over. The best part was the cookies, and I just ate those as a wholesome lunch instead of the wraps.
    5. The keynote presenter was good, but it was a bit boring. You could see that she had a very strong passion for what she was researching, but I thought that not many others in the crowd were able to relate to it and enjoy it.
    6. Norwalk greatly helped Sikorsky. Andrew and Ben S. went alone and there they were able to greatly increase the efficiency of the presentation and also helped nail down exactly how we were going to split up the presentation.
    7. I did not learn anything new about my project, and if there was another fair I feel that we should make our transitions between everybody smoother. In the middle of our two judging sessions, we had time to look around at other posters. A project that left an impression on me was the project on dinosaurs, and the kid was so into it that he actually got a custom made tie with dinosaurs on it.
    8. I did talk to a few students from other schools, but I did not have time to extensively talk with them enough to make new friends. Also us from Amity tend to form tightly knit groups and socialize together.
    9. I think that the practice and preparation that we had was enough to be able to do the fair and not feel that it was overly intimidating. It at all the only way to prepare more is to practice.

    ReplyDelete
  38. The SCISEF Fair was overall very good and very well executed. I enjoyed how organized the entire fair was and the meals. It was much better than I expected, even when it came to the judging. It was a very friendly atmosphere, and was better than it had been in the past.
    The judges were very helpful in giving ideas as to how to expand the project, and giving ideas of how to do more and better statistical analysis. The judges were very nice and better than last year, and even better than those at CSEF.
    The most helpful comment involved how I did statistical analysis on the average least squares regression line, and how I can make my points more independent. I do not believe that I even really heard any non-helpful comments.
    The breakfast and lunch were both above my expectations. They were very good.
    The keynote presentation was also better than I expected. Though it was not as entertaining as Dan Riskin was last year, it was overall very good and very informative.
    The mock science fair helped my presentation because it gave me a chance to practice what I wanted to say and the order to say it in. It helped me also prepare for possible questions judges may ask.
    I did not have time to go around and observe other students’ projects. However, I did learn from one judge how I could analyze my data better, and find even more significant results regarding the correlation between my chitianse activity and asthma severity.
    I did not have time to talk to students from other schools. I mostly socialized with amity students.
    I would say that this fair was very well done, prepared, and organized. There is nothing that could have been done better.

    ReplyDelete
  39. 1. I had a prime time at SCISEF this year. I fancied how everything seemed so organized and how students were able to have fun with people they knew. This fair did meet me expectations and seemed more enjoyable than last year.
    2. The judging process was okay. For my first group, I was missing a judge which led me to have 3 rounds; and the second group came to my poster 45 minutes before the assigned time, which caught me by surprise. Overall though the feedback I received from the judges was positive and helpful for my future studies.
    3. The most helpful comment I received was how many participants I should use for the PTSD patients, based on the grounds of statistics. I didn’t really have any useless comments, as to I thought that I could apply all the new information somewhere within my project.
    4. The food was tasty and not as hard or stale as last year’s food.
    5. In my opinion, I thought the topic was quite interesting. Although the keynote speaker was very passionate about her occupation and seemed to love her job, her presentation was too long and she might have been able to cut down on excess information.
    6. The Mock and Norwalk Science Fairs helped me for SCISEF by giving me enough practice for presenting. These helped me work on any faults I had in my verbal presentations and helped me to present without looking at my poster.
    7. I learned that I accidently put a comma instead of a period on my poster, so I would need to make sure no such typos happen in the future. I didn’t have much time to view other student’s projects because I wanted to stay near my poster once I found out that judges were coming at sporadic times.
    8. No, I did not communicate with students from other schools.
    9. Students don’t really need to be prepared for SCISEF but just need to practice their presenting to impress the judges, as they already do so.

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  40. verall, SCISEF this year was organized and smooth, with the exception of a few hiccups. I enjoyed the judging and presenting process of the fair, as well as the interaction I got to have with other students in between judging rounds. It was a nice way to relieve some anxiety before/after presenting and made the process of being judged slightly less stressful. The fair certainly met my expectations. I expected it to be the same as last year more or less and my expectations were set as such, and overall those expectations were met (but not exceeded). Most of the judges were friendly and professional and listened attentively while I was presenting and then asked questions at the end. They seemed genuinely interested most of the time and it was easy to tell they had professional backgrounds in whatever their respective fields. However some judges, in my case , only one, came off as snobbish and condescending. In my case, the judge said that my research was “insignificant” and “not valid” due to my limited sample size, which relatively speaking wasn’t too small given the known population. The same judge had nothing constructive to say, and both directly and indirectly influenced the other two judges he was with to give me more negative marks than I thought I deserved (I’m assuming; obviously I haven’t actually seen what they said). As I said the least helpful comments came from the one bad judge I had; the most helpful comments I had was in regards to my future research where the judge gave me some ideas as to what I could look into the future in addition to the ones I had already listed. Breakfast was good, although maybe a toaster would be nice so we could have toasted bagels; but that’s nitpicking. Lunch was not very good – the food was essentially school cafeteria food and there was extremely limited variety as far as selections for food/drinks went. Obviously our resources are limited so this wasn’t really a big deal, but in the future I think we should get food from elsewhere (either through donations or through an actual caterer/restaurant). I did not enjoy the keynote presentation; to be honest, I fell asleep at several points throughout. I can attribute this to the fact that after several rounds of judging and after lunch, I felt rather exhausted and sleepy. Also, it’s very hard to beat last year’s keynote which was spectacular and furthermore, I wasn’t personally too interested in this field. The Mock Science Fair helped me immensely because it helped me familiarize myself with my project more closely, which means my actual presentations were clearer, smoother, and I felt more confident than if I hadn’t presented previously. I did not talk to students from other schools. I think the Mock Science Fair is an excellent way of preparation for future science fairs; it, combined with presentations in class, is I think a fair amount of practice for actual science fairs. Anything more would be overkill/a waste of time and anything less would be inadequate.

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  41. Tanay Lathia
    1) SCISEF was an awesome super sauce tastic fair and I would definitely go again if I had the opportunity. I enjoyed presenting my work because for the most part the judges were very kind and respectful and did not ask too many difficult questions haha! The fair met expectations in most areas except three: the food was pitiful, especially as a vegetarian and the judges did not know very much about my specific project. The final issue with the fair was the keynote speaker. She was way too enthusiastic about a topic that frankly is not exciting unless you really are passionate about people popping pills. The fair was overall very similar to the previous SCISEF fair that was also held at Amity last year.
    2) The judging process involved groups of two or three judges coming in waves to visit my project and listen to my presentation. They would usually come to my poster, read it, the listen to my presentation and finally ask questions; all very standard business. They were helpful as far as listening and asking general questions but specific questions and depth of knowledge were lacking.
    3) Least helpful comment was when the judge interrupted me and yelled, “THAT’S NOT MEK!!!” Even though I was using the MEK protein not the chemical compound with which he was familiar. The most helpful comment was a question asking me to clarify something; this comment helped me reorganize my thoughts and touch back on small areas of my project which I had glossed over.
    4) Food was not good. Sandwiches were SOGGY! No variety of CHIPS! Cookies were super duper though. The breakfast was just standard, nothing to complain about but also, nothing to brag about.
    5) I did not enjoy the keynote presentation. It was too long in the background and dry info. However, she glossed over the actual research aspect of her work – the methodology and data. I was disappointed with this presentation, it was not a good follow-up to Dan Riskin. She was excited about her work at least.
    6) Mock science fairs are very, very useful because they give practice in presenting to judges and the format of science fairs. Also, it is a good way to refresh the memory after a long absence from presenting.
    7) I did not find out anything new about my project – I attribute this to the judges who had a severe lack of cancer background. I did see a few other student projects, mostly freshmen projects from Amity. It was very nostalgic to the all the behavioral projects and to see how far I have come.
    8) I did not really talk to any students from other schools, there were enough people to chat with just at Amity. REPRESENT!
    9) More practice with judges and presenting their poster rather than the ppt.

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  42. 1. This year’s SCISEF was very entertaining and eventful. I enjoyed being able to see everybody’s projects and hearing the research of my peers in different periods of Science Research. For the most part, the fair met my expectations, except I was a bit disappointed when it came to the keynote speaker. After last year’s phenomenal speaker, this year’s fell a bit short to my expectations. However, overall the fair was still very enjoyable and a great way to spend as my last high school science fair. In the past, SCISEF was not as streamlined and efficient as it was this year. The judges came at the appropriate times and asked insightful questions.
    2. The judging process went very well. The judges were well behaved and allowed me to finish presenting my project before they began to ask questions. They seemed genuinely interested in my project and asked me good questions. Even when they asked a question I did not know the answer to, they responded appropriately and were able to move on without staying too long on the subject. Sometimes, they asked me questions I had already answered, but besides it being an inconvenience, it was not too big of a deal.
    3. The most helpful comment was the discussion I had with a college student from SCSU about nuclear magnetic resonance. NMR is a method I wanted to use in future research instead of x-ray crystallography because it allows us to look at different aspects of the protein. Since he was a chemistry major and familiar with NMR, he was able to provide me with more details and specifics about the machine and how I could approach it. The least helpful comment was when the same judge asked me about how I would use drug delivery systems to stop the protein from cleaving amyloid beta peptides. Since my focus was not on drug delivery systems, I could not answer his question at all since I had very little background information about them.
    4. I did not eat breakfast at school. Lunch was very disappointing. I had the vegetable wrap and it tasted very bad. I expected better from SCISEF! Also, there was no variety of chips, which was disappointing. The one highlight were the cookies, which were delicious.
    5. The Keynote presentation was alright, though when compared to last year’s presentation, it failed to meet the standard set last year. Her research was interesting, but towards the end of her presentation, she began to repeat herself. She answered all the questions she was asked by repeating the same information over and over, which got tiresome very quickly. Sometimes, she would talk about specific drugs in detail, which I had trouble understanding.
    6. The mock science fair helped prepare me for my presentation in front of judges. Incidentally, at the mock science fair I actually met one of my judges at SCISEF. Presenting to her twice actually helped me a lot because I had previous knowledge of what she thought of my project and what she had trouble understanding.
    7. My regression analysis for my project continued to confuse my judges. I learned that I should explain my rationale for rejecting the regression with the higher r^2 value because it goes against common sense. This will certainly help me in future fairs. I did not have time to view other students’ projects. I stayed near my project because I was paranoid that the judges would come to my poster before the scheduled time.
    8. I did not talk to students from other schools because they were in a different section of the gym. I stayed in the Amity row, where most of the Amity students were because they were closer to my poster.
    9. More practice can always help! Sometimes presenting to people other than your peers, such as teachers and mentors, can help immensely when preparing for the science fair.

    Helen Zhao

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  43. 1. I was very impressed with SCISEF. It was very well organized. I could tell a lot of time and planning went into the fair and am very happy that it still occurred even after the problem of the snow. The fair surpassed my expectations. I did not observe any problems. The only difference from last years fair was that the Keynote presentation was not as enjoyable.
    2. The judges were very nice. They asked good questions and were genuinely interest in my presentation. I was very happy with the outcome of the judging process.
    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was that one judge said a good contingency study would be to study the effects of stress on different animals and try to find parallels. The least judge did not really understand the project. But after explaining the experiment again, he understood it.
    4. I did not eat breakfast at the fair because I had eaten breakfast at home. But, the wraps at lunch were quite good. Although, better signage on the wraps would have been good. I accidentally grabbed a veggie wrap because I did not see the signs, when I wanted a turkey wrap. Luckily, someone else had accidently grabbed a turkey wrap, so we simply switched wraps. The cookies were fabulous. I had a difficult time decided which flavor to take, so I had the pleasure of trying all of them. The sugar cookies were by far the best.
    5. The keynote presentation was informative, but did not appeal to my taste. The speaker was excited but I had a hard time getting into the presentation.
    6. Practicing my presentation at the Mock Science Fair was helpful. I got to present to Dr. Brady, so I got to experience what it was like presenting in a more serious environment.
    7. The judge did not really enlighten me about the project in anyway. They asked good questions but did not make any suggestions. I did not have a chance to look at any projects.
    8. I did not talk to anyone from other schools.
    9. I think it would be good if we started finding mentors over the summer. I had great difficulty trying to find a mentor at the beginning of the year. But in the end it all worked out swell.

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  44. Daniel Giebisch

    1. I enjoyed SCISEF. I thought it was a great educational experience. The fair met my expectations. It was quite similar to last year. However, the speaker this year spoke in a different style than last year's "bat guy."

    2. The judging process was similar to last year. Unfortunately, none of the judges looked at our poster before we started presenting. Also, one set of judges arrived 15 minutes early, so we were unprepared.

    3. One set of our judges told us what they liked and disliked about our presentation. We learned a lot from their comments and suggestions. The least helpful comment was when a judge asked "can we see some results?"

    4. Great! Except there could have been more drinks.

    5. The keynote speaker could have been more engaging. Though it is unfair to compare her to the awesomeness of "bat guy," she spoke in a much more scientific manner that was hard for students to connect to.

    6. The Mock Science Fair was great for practicing the presentation and having classmates comment on the poster.

    7. I learned a little from one of the judges regarding resonance and nodes. I did not view other students' works.

    8. Because of the poster setup layout, I did not speak to kids from other schools. All of the surrounding posters were from Amity.

    9. I would have preferred a more engaging speaker to improve SCISEF.

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  45. 1. Scisef was a great fair. I enjoyed looking at other projects and presenting to more professional judges. the fair met all of my expectations as it was the same as it was in the past.


    2. The judging process was very strong, and while my judges showed up early, at least there was a suggested time for them to judge. The judges were fair and helpful.

    3. The most helpful comment from the Judges was about my sensitivity analysis. The least helpful was about how beautiful my poster was, however it was extremely flattering.

    4. The food was mediocre at best. The breakfast bagels were subpar and grainy, and the lunch was soggy.

    5. The Keynote presentation on “Rivers on Drugs” was very interesting and the speaker was extremely animated and passionate about her cause. While I had trouble following at certain points because of how fast she spoke, what I did catch was intriguing.

    6. The Mock Science Fair and the Norwalk Science Fair both prepared me for SCISEF as they were good examples to practice my presentation. At both I was able to present without much at stake which was perfect practice for SCISEF.


    7. I did not learn anything new about my project. However, I did get to look at other students projects. The effect of stress on grasshoppers dietary patterns was an eye opening study that had me intrigued into the life of a grasshopper for days.

    8. I did not talk to students from other schools because I love Amity science research so much.


    9. I think the best way to prepare students for Scisef is by bringing them to Norwalk.

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  46. 1) My overall impression of the SCISEF Fair was that it had a wide variety of projects that you could walk through and see. I enjoyed going around and looking at all the different types of projects. It was just like it was last year.
    2) I liked the judging process. The judges were very helpful and outgoing.
    3) The judges that knew a lot about the parts of my project explained to me more about them. I found it helpful because I was able to understand more about my project.
    4) The food was good. The bagels were a little stale but the wraps were good.
    5) I was not able to attend because I had to go out for lunch for my parents’ anniversary…
    6) The Mock Science/ Norwalk Fair helped prepare me by making me speak with a lot of people. It helped me improve in presenting my project.
    7) I learned more about the background of my variable and have more suggestions for future works. I can add on to these factors for up-coming science fairs. I did have time to view other people’s projects. He project that caught my attention was the one on dinosaurs. I was a very visual poster and the presenter had a dinosaur tie to match his poster.
    8) I didn't really talk to student from other schools.
    9) We can make students present in a more diverse group of people, so they have a more diverse set of suggestions.


    -Vimratha

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  47. 1. SCISEF was a wonderful fair and it definitely lived up to my expectations. I thought that the judging was better than it had been and they were all quite organized. At least for myself, the judges all came approximately at the same time that they were scheduled. The judges were pretty knowledgeable and were able to ask pointed questions that were specific to my project. The food was unfortunately quite horrid and was almost indelible. The keynote speaker was not very enjoyable and actually put much of the audience to sleep. It was overall a great fair.

    2. The judging process involved a group of three and a group of two. They came over to my poster and they first read it over and then gave me the opportunity to explain my research. They were pretty helpful with providing me several ideas for future research but not many directed pointers for improving.

    3. The most helpful comment was if I had considered different geometries of the nano particle, like square or tube shaped. That was a great thought that I said I would investigate. The least helpful comments were those that said we can't understand your math even though they didnt specify what I could help explain.

    4. Breakfast was standard and the bagels were average. They were nothing spectacular. The lunch was putrid. It had no flavor and was impossible to digest.

    5. The keynote presentation was not very interesting at all. She put me to sleep within a matter of minutes. She was covering a lot of info that was dry and went over my head. It was quite hard to beat last years presentation.

    6. Mock science fairs are extremely useful. They give a lot of practice in preparing for what judges may ask and what it is like to be in front of others.

    7. I did not learn anything new about my project. They helped me prepare for future projects but not with this years project. I got time to view other people's project but mostly freshmen from our school. The freshmen projects were particularly interesting and I was impressed with how knowledgeable they were.

    8. I didn't really talk to kids from other schools.

    9. I think the mock science fair is essential to doing well at the fair. Overall we are all well prepared and there's not much else to do to make it better.

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  48. Gabrielle Totten

    1.) SCISEF this year was very similar to the fair last year. While the judge’s times were slightly askew, everything proceeded as would be expected.

    2.) I found the judges and the judging process to be very helpful. My judges were all very friendly. The judges I had did not seem to be very well versed on my particular project, but they seemed interested to learn and they paid very close attention which I appreciated.
    3.) The judges did not give me many comments. Most of what they had to say were questions pertaining to my project and the field of study. Although one judge gave me some suggestions on what else I could have had controlled in the study. There were no comments that were truly not helpful.
    4.) Contrary to popular opinion, I did not find the lunch repulsive. That being said, I can’t say it was the best wrap I’ve ever had. It was simply what was expected at a function such as this.

    5.) The topic itself was not of much interest to me although the speaker wasn’t too bad. I really appreciated how enthusiastic she was about the topic though. It was nice to see someone so excited about their research.

    6.) I found that attending Norwalk Science Fair the day before was very helpful. The judges I had at Norwalk gave me comments and asked questions that helped me to prepare for SCISEF. The mock science fair was not as beneficial to me as Norwalk was.

    7.) I do not believe I learned anything new about my project. I did not take much time to go and look at other projects although one poster stood out to me. I’m not sure of the name of the project, but a student did a project on dinosaurs and it was quite unique due to the large photos he had printed in the background.

    8.) I did not talk to students from other schools at this science fair. This may have been due to the fact that all of the Amity students were grouped together.

    9.) Nothing is coming to my mind as of right now on what can be done to prepare students better for the fair.

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  49. What I greatly enjoyed about the 2013 SCISEF fair was the wide arrange of projects that were present at the fair. Also, the wide arrange of backgrounds from which the judges came from. It was nice that not all of the judges were doctors and that some engineers were present as well as geologist present as well. It was similar to fairs in the past with the fact that it was large and in a spacious area allowing presenters ample room to utilize to present their work. Over all it was well put together.
    The judging process was good in the facts that the judges I encountered were nice and seemed to know what they were talking about. However, some did not pay attention as well others. Also the judges i had did not provide feedback or suggestions for improvement in the future. However, on the larger scale, the judges were excellent. Timing was an issue however. The first round of judges were on time and took time to look over my poster before I presented. The second round was about 20 minutes early and did not look over the board.
    The most helpful comment I received was that my statistical analysis was very well done and gave an accurate depiction of my results. I found this to be a great compliment as I spent allot of time putting them together with my mentor and trying to figure them out. The least helpful was that that was unsaid. One round of judges asked no questions or gave no advice. This was detrimental as I did not know what they needed clarification on.
    The bagels served were a bit stale but still very good. Also, the coffee was GREATLY appreciated. Lunch was good as well.
    The key note presentation was a bit dull at times and hard to follow but the presenter really seemed to like the research she was conducting which was refreshing. The presentation was a bit wordy at times and went off into a couple of pre- planned tangents.
    The mock science fair helped prepare me in that it gave me an additional opportunity to present my work and practice my portrayal of the research.
    I did not learn anything new as the judges I had were not specialized in my field of geology. As a result they took it at face value and did not comment much on it.
    I did have time to look at some students projects. I seemed to notice that the vast majority of projects had to do with health sciences. I found this rather disappointing as I am not too interested in this field. One project that gave me a lasting impression was the one on purifying plant DNA. This was because the girl presenting it had such difficult analysis methods that her mentor did for her that when she was asked to explain them to her audience, she was not able to.
    I was able to talk to a guy who was doing research overseas in a dig site. He was very polite and seemed genuinely interested in my work.
    I think I was extremely prepared going into SCISEF as It was the last science fair of the year and I had presented my work so many times prior.
    -- Samantha Austin

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  50. 1. Overall, SCISEF was similar to the times I've gone to SCISEF in the past. It was very well organized, and seemed to run smoothly. The committee’s planning really seemed to pay off. Some people had judges arrive early, but ours were on time. I did not notice any problems, and nothing went wrong to me.
    2. Our judges were fair, and they all seemed interested in our project. None of the judges seemed to have a background in our area (the second group actually explicitly said so), but they were able to follow well enough. They also asked good questions.
    3. One of the judges made a good suggestion about possible future work, which was studying the effect of stress in other animals. We had one judge who did not quite understand some aspects of the project, but further clarification fixed that.
    4. The food was decent. It wasn't outstanding but it could have been a lot worse.
    5. The keynote presentation was an interesting topic, but the presenter was not really good at connecting with us as an audience. The adult audience seemed to enjoy it more.
    6. The mock science fair was good practice because people posed questions I hadn't necessarily thought of, as well as giving us a chance to practice the way we would alternate presenting (since I had never presented an SRP project with a partner before).
    7. The judges did not really give us any new information, mostly just asking questions. I didn't really have a chance to look closely at any projects, but there was one that i noticed because it had a giant picture of a dinosaur on it.
    8. I did not talk to students from other schools.
    9. I think the program does a good job of preparing students for science fairs.

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  51. 1. Overall i thought scicef was pretty good. Although i left relatively early from what i experience I thought it was well organized and well executed. I'm glad that they gave us bagels in the morning that was a nice treat.
    2. My judges were very fair and helpful. The first round more than the second ,however. My first round of judges were all very nice and gave me great tips for the future.
    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was that I need more participants. The least helpful was they asked me if I was interested in my subject which i found irrelevant.
    4. I was only there for breakfast and it was relatively good. The only suggestion I have is to get the bagels from Brugger's and try to get different kinds such as cinnamon sugar.
    5. I was not present for the keynote presentation
    6. The mock science fair made it easier for me to present live and on the spot.
    7. Since i left early i did not have time to view the other student's projects. Also, for the next fair I will probably try and get more participants to expand my results.
    8. No i did not speak with other students from different schools
    9. There is nothing more you can do to prepare students for the science fair, I felt confident while presenting.

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  52. Rachel Marcus
    1. My overall impression of SCISEF was positive. I enjoyed learning about the different studies students from Amity, as well as other schools, performed, and the advice given to me by judges. Unfortunately, the fair this year did not meet my expectations. Last year, the fair was very organized, all judges were helpful, and the speaker was amusing and captivating. I expected this year’s fair to be very similar to my first experience, however it was not. Timing for judges to arrive to posters was extremely to be on time to be twenty minutes late. The speaker, although slightly boring. The fair in general was much more hectic than I remembered from last years’ experience. Besides the negative points of the fair, all of the judges, volunteers and participants were extremely pleasant, and the entire atmosphere of the fair was great.
    2. The judging process was disorganized and I had mixed emotions. My first set of judges came right on time, and although they asked more questions on what can be done in the future than the actual study, the judges were still helpful. My second sets of judges were about 10 minutes late and continuously interrupted, not letting me finish my presentation, even from the first few minutes of the presentation. The judges also asked me questions about only about the future studies. The judges on the second presentation I found extremely unhelpful.
    3. An interesting comment from a judge was researching the effect of voice frequency on people with auditory disabilities and the preferences they had. One of the least helpful comments from a judge was repetition of my study, for example my sources of error.
    4. The food was not terrible, however during lunch, the water and juice buckets were constantly being moved for replacing drinks, however both would be gone at a time, making it difficult for people to retrieve any drinks when needed.
    5. The presentation, “Rivers on Drugs”, was an interesting topic. The presenter was very enthusiastic with her presentation, however the presentation was not very engaging to audience members. Last year’s presenter was great, and those who were in attendance last year and this year had high expectations for this presenter. Unfortunately, those expectations were not met and might have been too high.
    6. The Mock Science Fair helped me clear any awkward moments in my presentation and adjust to being asked questions about my study, like what my motivation was for this study and how I would like to move forward with this study.
    7. I did not learn anything new about my project. I was able to see numerous projects by other students. Most projects that caught my attention were those about neurobiology, psychology, and other projects in the health sciences. These studies left a lasting impression for me because of my extreme interests in the behavioral and medical sciences.
    8. I spoke to a few other students from other schools about their studies and my study as well. Some presented to me, while I presented to others. Other students and I spoke about school in general and the different science fairs that we had been in. If I saw others who I knew from previous science fairs, we spoke and caught up with each other’s lives.
    9. I believe that there is very little that can be added to help students prepare for science fairs other than presenting as much as possible, either in class or in other science fairs. I also believe that if the judging round system was eliminated, then students might be a little more prepared and less frazzled when judges come to see the presentations.

    ReplyDelete
  53. George Zhang

    1. Overall, I thought that SCISEF was a great experience. I enjoyed the fact that we had judges who would personally come and listen to us. It was fun to dress up and present our projects. The fair was a lot bigger than I thought it would be and it seemed well organized. But for being the first science fair that I have ever gone to, I actually had a pretty good time.

    2. I thought most of the judges were pretty good. They provided very helpful feedback and seemed genuinely interested in my project. However my second group of judges was a little disorganized and came to see me present at different times, so that kind of affected the quality of my presentations.

    3. The most helpful comment was that I should do a statistical analysis of my data because I was not even aware I could do that. The least helpful comment was that I did a good job because that did not really help me with anything.

    4. I thought that the food was pretty good and it had a lot of variety.

    5. I thought the keynote speaker was interesting and informative but it went on for a bit too long. I am actually kind of concerned with the environment so the presentation was not too bad.

    6. The mock science fair helped me prepare for SCISEF by letting me figure out the order I wanted to present in and it gave me an idea of what the fair would be like. It also helped me present more fluently and gave me constructive feedback.

    7. I learned a lot about how I could improve my project and how I could be a better presenter in the future. I would do a statistical analysis next time and get more trials. I did not really get a chance to see other people's projects because I mainly concentrated on my presentations and by the time I was done it was already time for lunch.

    8. I did not really talk to any students from the other schools because I was mostly hanging out with people from our school.

    9. In order to prepare the students for upcoming fairs, they should definitely be taught some basic information about statistics and how to analyze the data statistically because most of my judges asked me for a statistical analysis and I did not have one.

    ReplyDelete
  54. 1) SCISEF is one of my favorite science fairs, not just for its convenient location, but also for the friendly atmosphere. I find the judges to be almost like peers to whom you are sharing your great idea with instead of the typical judge and student roles that you play at your typical science fair. Since this was my 4th SCISEF it was exactly what I expected. There wasn’t much variation that was noticeable from past years, and I kind of liked it that way. At SCISEF everyone seemed excited about their project and science and the judges were very respectful.

    2) The judging process was very nice. Unfortunately I was in the last judging groups so I had to wait a few hours before I could even be judged. Once the judges came around they listened intently and asked good questions at the end. The shared their personal knowledge on the topic and even gave me life suggestions about the areas of science that I was interested in. Overall the judging process went smooth except for when everyone around me was being judged at the same time. It caused for there to be limited space when I was presenting to my judges. I know that I was not the only one with this problem.

    3) The judges gave me a few comments but not very many. If I had to pick the most helpful comment it would have to be when they suggested that I find a professor at my new school that is just as passionate as me on this topic and continue my research. The least helpful comment would have to be the one where the judge told me to not just pursue computer science and that I should also choose something else as it is hard to find a job in computer science.

    4) The food was ok, I mean it wasn’t gourmet and it didn't have much flavor but it was still edible.

    5) The Keynote presentation “Rivers on Drugs?” was ok. If I had to rate it 1-10 and 10 was the best, I would give her presentation about a 5. The presentation was not boring or anything, and it was great research, but I believe her presentation skills could have been improved and her talk was a little to long.

    6) Unfortunately I was unable to attend the mock science fair but I was able to attend the Norwalk science fair. I found that the Norwalk science fair helped me to improve my presentation through practice and also get a feel for the different types of questions that could be asked by the judges.

    7) No, I did not learn anything new about my project. I did have some time to look at other presentations such a Julia’s I found it very interesting to learn about the disease diabetes. The project showed me of the struggles that people living with diabetes have to go through every day to make sure that they keep healthy, and how that can affect their self-esteem.

    8) Unfortunately I did not really talk to students from other schools as I was not near anyone from other schools and I feared to run off to far from my poster incase my judges came early, although I would have loved to talk to other students from different schools about their projects.

    9) SCISEF was unfortunately my last science fair as it was the last of the year and next year I will be in college so there is not much I can do for upcoming science fairs, but I don't believe there is anything to do anyway as I thought I was well prepared for this fair with my many hours of practicing both my presentation and answering questions.

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  55. Owais Khan

    1) My overall impression of the fair was that it ran quite well with just a few hitches along the way. The reason that I liked the fair was because I was able to observe other projects and take them into consideration when pondering what my own project will be next year. The fair met my expectations except for the fact that judges were very early and very late at times. The fair last year, based off of my prior experience, ran much more smoothly.

    2) The judging process was probably the least well-run aspect of the fair. When someone did not show up, they would move right on to the next participant on their list. This was very hectic and caused a large amount of confusion in participants. Alongside this, participants may have been caught off guard by the early appearances of the judges, which may have caused them to perform at a lower degree than they could have.

    I also feel like many judges were not prepared well enough to be judging projects. After watching the seminar to learn how to grade presentations, they became too focused on petty details. For example, a judge may end up penalizing someone for referring to the board too much. He or she might also penalize for lack of eye contact. Although it is a good presentation skill to have, one should not be penalized over such a discreet, miniscule problem. In my own experience, the judges in the second round were not interested in my projects at all. They resorted to asking numerous questions about my motivation and my mentor’s occupation. They had no real questions.

    3) My judges were either uninterested or completely clueless. My judges the first time were physicists or engineers. They asked no helpful questions, only small questions for clarification to make up for a lack of background in biology. Again, the least helpful comment I received was “Where does your mentor work and what does he do?” The judge wasn’t interested in learning about the work my mentor and I contributed to the project. She just ask the question because she had no others.

    4) I ate neither the breakfast or lunch so I am ignorant about the food quality. May I recommend pizza next time? The pizza was good at Norwalk.

    5) I disliked the keynote presentation. Obviously she was interested and excited about her topic, but the purpose of a presentation is to captivate the audience. All she did was spew facts about the problem and explain negative effects about drugs in rivers. Quite frankly, I had a tough time staying awake.

    6) Well, the mock science fair was done a month or two before these fairs so I feel that it lost its purpose of prior preparation. However, because we redid presentations in class, preparation was fine. Norwalk was good practice for SCISEF. Actually, I enjoyed the judge there a lot more. She was very helpful and knew all about my topic. She pointed out a flaw in my experiment and I was able to discuss it with my mentor and change it for SCISEF. If I had had judges like her at SCISEF, I would have been much more satisfied.

    7) At these science fairs, I learned that regulation of genes has too many factors to be determined relevant to a specific condition affecting the same area the gene is observed in. Therefore, only genes known to function in the disease should be used.

    I did have time to view other projects and learned a lot from looking into other biology projects. They helped me discern how I want to plan out my next year’s project.

    8) Unfortunately, I did not end up speaking to many other students from other schools.

    9) I feel like it’s quite difficult to prepare student for the fair any further. Obviously practice helps, but one has to be able to think on his feet. Too much prepping causes a standardized approach and a lack of excitement. We had a mock science fair, we presented in class, and we went to Norwalk. Thus, we practiced and got the feel for fairs at Norwalk. Any further prepping would be unnecessary. Besides, our freshmen did quite well this year.

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  56. Sarah Stein

    1. Overall, I thought this year’s SCISEF was enjoyable. Specifically, I enjoyed interacting with other students about their projects. The fair exceeded my expectations from last year’s, which was not nearly as fun or relaxed as this year’s fair.

    2. Fortunately, I had fair and helpful judges. However, my judging process was a little chaotic; instead of having only two rounds of judging, I had three. Because I was only expecting to have two, I left after the second and was called back to the gym for a third round. Although this was not a huge inconvenience for me, it might be frustrating to future SCISEF participants.

    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was to do further statistical analysis on the data. My judges did not have any unhelpful comments.

    4. I did not have any of the food, but it looked good!

    5. I enjoyed the Keynote presentation because the presenter was very excited and engaging when it came to her studies and findings. However, the presentation was quite long, and having been at the science fair for four hours already, I was very tired.

    6. The Mock Science Fair helped me practice my presentation enough to make it fluid.

    7. I learned that my project has much more potential than I saw in it. I definitely want to do more data analysis on the different factors that go into immunization. I saw several different student projects, and one that caught my eye was the project on lactose and the evolving human diet, as I am fascinated by nutrition science.

    8. I talked to several students from different schools about their projects and the science research programs at their schools.

    9. Honestly, I don’t think that we could prepare any more for the science fairs than we do already. After practicing our presentations in front of several audiences in various environments, any more preparation would be overdoing it.

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  57. SCISEF was great, as it was last year and the year before. I really enjoyed the layout and just the general atmosphere of science. To see this many students come together in the Amity gymnasium just to talk about science is just mindblowing. The fair met my expectations, again it was just great being in the community. The judging process however left much to be desired. Our first round judges came in 30 minutes early and when we were missing a member, one of the judges told US to be prepared. I don’t even know if he realized he came in a round early. We still presented to them though, although one of the judges had a very thick Korean accent when he asked questions. The most helpful comment from the judges was telling us about material selections, and again, the least helpful comment was the judge telling us that we should be prepared. The food was delicious, but not as good as the unforgettable sandwiches from Sacred Heart two years ago. I still dream about those sandwiches. The keynote speaker was a terrible follow up to Dan Riskin. Her presentation wasn’t that engaging, although she seemed very passionate and enthusiastic about her work. It did seem to drag on for far too long. Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare us in terms of giving us experience in how to present a project like Sikorsky. We knew how to format the presentation and perfect it for SCISEF due to our experience in Norwalk. I learned that our project was very competitive in terms of other team projects and I definitely was not expecting a win – which was a much welcome surprise. I did not get to view other projects or talk to students from other schools; there were enough Amity students to talk to. All in all, great fair. I’m going to miss these next year :(

    Andrew Chen

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  58. Julia Goclowski

    1. SCISEF is my favorite science fair because I enjoy seeing all of the creative projects and talking about science. I thought that this year's science fair was very good and organized well from a student's perspective. It did meet my expectations. I like having SCISEF at Amity because there was a lot of room in the gym, cafeteria and auditorium so it wasn't crowded. Last year at SCISEF I felt as though it was a little more organized. It is different than last year because last year I had more judges.

    2. Like I mentioned I had more judges last year. My first team of judges was just one person. It was nice though because I could connect better with him when discussing my research. He was very nice and asked mainly clarification questions. My second set of judges were also very nice. One of my judges had a brother with Type 1 Diabetes so he was interested in my research. There was one guy that asked me what I would change if I had unlimited resources which was cool because it allowed me to show him and the other judges what kind of a project I would have liked to do. Overall my judges were nice and helpful.

    3. The most helpful comment was to see how I could keep my variable the most constant because he said that teenage girls' confidence levels will vary from the levels of boys. He told me that I should try to account for these other variables when discussing my research. I didn't have a comment that wasn't helpful.

    4. The food was ok. I thought that it tasted fine and was filling so that I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day.

    5. I thought that the speaker was unique. She presented her research with confidence and seemed enthusiastic when discussing her results. She seemed as though she truly cares about her research and science in general. I found that it was a little hard to follow at times but overall very understandable. She repeated some of her information more than once which ensured that the audience didn't miss a thing!

    6. I was more comfortable when talking to my judges and I was prepared with my timing. I knew how long I should have spent on the different parts of my presentation and how much detail I should get into.

    7. I learned that I should have controlled the factors that my participants were teenagers and would have varying confidence levels. I didn't have much time to view other projects but I found that there was a big variety of projects at the fair which was nice.

    8. I wasn't very social with students from other schools. I listened to presentations from students from Amity that I hadn't heard before so that wad nice.

    9. I think that more mock fairs would help and inviting more people to the mock fairs would help. I find that when I present to more people I do better when taking to judges.

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  59. 1. SCISEF went okay. It came at a bad time for me, so it felt like a physical and mental burden more than anything else, but nothing could have been done about that. It was just unfortunate timing. This was my first science fair, so it's good that I had the experience of going. I just wish I was able to enjoy it more.

    2. During the judging process, I would do my presentation and then be asked questions. I thought they were fair enough. Admittedly, I didn't understand all their questions, but I suppose that's what happens when you're doing something for the first time.

    3. The least helpful questions were definitely the ones related to "statistical analysis." Not only did I fail to understand what they meant by that, but I didn't even know it was required. (Probably mostly my fault though.) My second group of judges did give me suggestions for future testing though, which was nice, including pointing out hidden variables that I hadn't thought of before.

    4. The food was fine. I didn't really care about the taste, since for the following two days I knew I wouldn't be able to eat anything solid for preparation. So I was just stuffing my face with anything I found anyways, haha.

    5. Personally, I didn't find it that interesting. The topic failed to catch my attention, but I did appreciate that the speaker was enthusiastic and happy to share her presentation. It made it more bearable despite me not caring much about the actual data.

    6. I couldn't attend Norwalk. And I also missed the mock science fair due to some other complications. So I guess they're both out of the picture.

    7. I learned that my project was actually quite flawed, but that I could dive deeper into the topic and still have a plethora of other experiments to do. For example, I could have tested whether or not students gradually score better on the cognitive tests through repeated attempts, which could have affected how they did in my original experiment. As for other student projects, I didn't walk around enough to find any that were extremely relevant to me.

    8. Nope. Didn't have the motivation to go out and socialize.

    9. Ideally I'd like more class time to practice in front of my peers, but I'm not sure if other people would be okay with that. I missed a lot of school, so it was just my fault for not being there during all the past practice sessions.

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  60. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

    SCISEF was enjoyable this year, the fair was very nice, I was very impressed by how smoothly the registration went and such. I liked that there were chairs at the presenters stations too, it gets tiring standing around for all those hours!

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?

    The judges were actually really bad. They had no idea what they were talking about, and did not seem too interested in my project.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    They said I should explore the applications of my findings with the wax heater. Least helpful they said I should not have too many words on my abstract.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?

    The breakfast and the lunch were both REALLY good. I was also very hungry too...

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation on "Rivers on Drugs"? Explain.

    I was not able to attend the Keynote presentation, unfortunately.

    6. In what way do you think the Mock Science Fair and/or Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare you?

    From the comments the Norwalk judges gave me I was able to better my presentation for SCISEF.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair? Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

    I did not look at anybody else's project really. My project was also relatively the same in my eyes.

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

    Nope.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?

    I think I was very well prepared, the mock science fair was nice, as well as Norwalk. I think a few more science fair like presentations would greatly benefit all of our projects as well. Especially older classmates judging younger ones.

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  61. Haseeb Khan

    1. I enjoyed the SCISEF Fair. It was very different from Norwalk and was also fun, too. I liked that the participants were able to leave their projects to go and look at the other projects and the cafeteria to get food and talk to their friends.

    2. The judging was interesting. I liked that their were two rounds of judging to get the most accurate score as possible, but the judges were varying. The first group came to my presentation on time and asked many questions ans paid attention to my presentation. The second group came 45 minutes early and didn't really pay attention. They also interrupted me while I was talking and messed me up.

    3.The judges didn't make many comments but asked questions. The least helpful question they asked me was if I did a "spectral analysis" on the type of noise I used and what "color" it was. I found these questions completely irrelevant to what my experiment was testing and it seemed like they were over-complicating a fairly simple project.

    4. The cookies. They were amazing. The wraps. Ehh. The cookies. They were very good. The bag of chips. They tasted like a bag of chips. The cookies. They were delicious. The bagels. They were fairly good. The cookies. The were very goodly, amazingly delicious.

    5. No. She talked too much and gave TOO MUCH information. After the first 40 minutes, she said that the background information was over. She talked too much and I felt very sleepy. I most likely would've fallen asleep, but my head kept rolling over and waking me up. Although the subject matter seemed very important, I found that the speaker didn't do a good job.

    6. The Mock Science Fair/Norwalk Fair exposed me to how I should present and how the judges will view my project and they helped me adjust my presentation and poster to be better. But I think it made me do a bit worse,too. When doing my poster, I was told not to put a lot on the slides and to talk and explain most of it. The judges mostly looked at my poster and sometimes weren't even paying attention to what I was saying. Since I didn't have alot on my poster, they might have not understood my project as well as they could have if they listened to what I was saying.

    7. I learned that you could do a spectral analysis on noise to find out what "color" it is and observe what different effects it has on different people but that wouldn't have much of a major impact on my project so it was unneeded information.

    8. No, I didn't talk to anyone from the other schools.

    9. Have more Mock Science Fairs. These helped me refine my presentation and practice how I should talk to the people viewing my project. Also, the pseudo-judges gave helpful criticism that I could apply to my presentation/project and make it better. Additionally, the feedback helped me change my poster so that it would be better.


    Overall, I enjoyed the SCIESEF Fair. It was fun and a good learning experience.

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  62. Devon Hebert

    1. I thought SCISEF was a great experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the science fair. I was glad that it wasn’t as stressful as I thought it would be. I enjoyed looking at other peoples projects and talking to the judges.
    2. First the judges came and looked over my poster. After that I explained and they asked questions. I thought the judges were very fair and helpful.
    3. The most helpful comment was when one judge told me she would help me if I wanted to continue my project. The least helpful is just saying good job.
    4. I thought the breakfast was good. I also thought that the lunch was good to.
    5. I enjoyed the keynote speaker. I thought that she was very informational and I learned a lot. Also it was a very interesting topic to talk about.
    6. I thought the mock science fair was a very good experience. It really helped me to understand how to present properly. Also it gave me a chance to get good feedback and make my presentation the best that it could be.
    7. I learned that there is a machine that you can use to give an exact color and would help get more accurate results. In the future to improve my project I would use this machine to help me. I liked seeing everyone else’s project. I thought the most interesting project was the one about dinosaurs.
    8. I didn’t talk to anyone from the other schools.
    9. If we were to prepare new students for upcoming science fairs we should send them to more science. Requiring them to go to more airs would give them more experience and do batter later in the course.

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  63. I enjoyed SCISEF a lot. I enjoyed that the food was left out so you could grab food and then go back to your poster. The fair met my expectations. I had expected we would be able to eat earlier and we did! The judges were tough, but they asked lots of good questions. The judges were fair. They asked me were in the brain the adenosine receptors are. The food was great. I didn't enjoy it because it was boring. It helped me practice my presenting skills. I did learn something new about your project. I could look deeper into my project. I didn't have time to view other projects. I did not talk to students from other schools. Maybe practicing presenting more would help.

    Ryan Oleynik

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  64. Please reflect on the following (each question in detail):

    1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

    Overall, SCISEF was a great experience. I had some time in between to talk with my friends and have a some fun, but I particularly enjoyed seeing what other students were researching. It definitely met my expectations!

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?

    The judging process was very thorough and every judge gave me a good combination of suggestions and comments. However, my second panel of judges arrived at my poster almost 45 minutes early. I was ready to present, but I was very confused as to why they came so early!Nevertheless,I felt the judges were incredibly helpful.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?

    The most helpful comment was the suggestion for future work. However, all the comments were helpful! They were all valid and I will surely incorporate them into future projects.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?

    The food was delicious! :)

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation on "Rivers on Drugs"? Explain.

    The presentation was informative and the speaker seemed very knowledgeable. However, I felt like she was talking for more than 2 hours!

    6. In what way do you think the Mock Science Fair and/or Norwalk Science Fair helped prepare you?

    I feel like the Mock Science Fair prepared me for the judges the questions would ask me. I also received great suggestions that I included in my presentation at Norwalk and SCISEF. Norwalk reinforced what I learned from the Mock Science Fair, but I didn't learn anything new.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair? Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

    Yes, I did. The idea of embodiment was brought to my attention. To factor this into my experiment, I could include something that was "speaking." Also, I could always use more participants! Unfortunately, I did not get a change to view other projects.

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

    No, I did not.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?

    Presenting to a smaller group of people to simulate the experience with judges could help.

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  65. Leah Miller

    1. Overall SCISEFF went well. I enjoyed the organization and flow of the fair. It did meet expectations. It was very similar to what it was last year in most aspects except the actual projects.

    2. The judging process was interesting. The first group was nice, helpful and asked many good questions. The second round of judging was one person that came almost 45 minutes early and asked many, many questions. For the most part, the judging was fair and quite helpful.

    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was to question my project as a whole which helped me to realize some things about my project. The least helpful comment from the judges was a comment about
    a conversation one judge had with his son.

    4. The food was OK. The sandwiches seemed bland and soggy, but they served their purpose. Juice ran out quickly, but had good options. Same happened with the cookies.

    5. The keynote speaker was very informative and was on a somewhat interesting topic, but she tended to talk too much on a particular area, especially on background, which led to it to be hard to sit and listen to. Also, the speaker herself was monotone and talked quickly, so she was hard to understand at times.

    6. The mock science fair helped me in that I was able to see things I could add and techniques I could use to further my presenting skills. Norwalk was able to better prepare me for questions the judges might ask and feedback I could ask of the judges.

    7. I did not learn much new at SCISEF about my project. I was able to walk around and view other projects. The ones to stick to me were easily understood at a glance and could be figured out without too many questions.

    8. I did not talk with students from other schools as I remained either by my poster or with people from Amity, as did most other students from other schools.

    9. Inter-class and inter-grade level presentations can help as veterans can give tips to newbies and students new to this can give a fresh-eyed look to the projects

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  66. Zhang Liu

    1. Overall, I enjoyed my time at the fair. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that breakfast was provided for us. I enjoyed hearing about all the people who have worked hard to make SCISEF possible, from the people who first started the foundation to all the people who have worked hard to keep it running.

    2. The judges did not seem to be very interested in my project, most likely because they did not have enough background knowledge to fully understand it. Most judges I asked did not come from life science backgrounds. I remember being judged by one person with a biology background, but the rest were mechanical engineers and mathematicians.

    3.The judges did not make many comments or suggestions. For the most part they seemed to want a better explanation of the future implications of my project, so I noted that as an area that I needed to better explain for the second round of judges.

    4. Breakfast was good. Bagels , spread, and juice are pretty solid breakfast foods. The wraps at lunch were not very enjoyable, however. There was no specific problem with them; they just did not seem to be very well made.

    5. I enjoyed the topic the speaker explained . I was not aware of the problem that drugs in our water ways can create . Though the problem and solutions she talked about were interesting, she was not a very engaging speaker.

    6.The mock science fair helped me rehearse my presentation so that I knew it better. Also, I was accustomed to presenting to judges who had intensive background on my topic, so the mock science fair gave me a chance to be better able to explain my project to people who do not have a strong biology/immunology background.

    7.For the next fair, I will have to be better at explaining my project in layman’s terms, either to casual observers or judges who are not familiar with my topic. Most importantly, I will have to improve my ability to emphasize the importance of my research, and the possibilities of future research. I did not have much time to view other student projects in detail. I was surprised by the number of astronomy and astrophysics projects though.

    8.I did not talk to many students from other schools. All the posters around mine were Amity students. So in order to promote networking and mingling of students from different schools, SCISEF could make sure the posters are not grouped by school.

    9. Students could be briefed on the training the judges go through so we can understand how the judges will be viewing our projects. If students can see projects from a judges’ point of view, then it will help us fine tune our presentations to be clearer and more concise.

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  67. Katie Meehan
    1. Overall, I really enjoyed SCISEF. The judges were very good and the specific times for when the judges were coming was very helpful. It was very different from Norwalk because SCISEF was a lot bigger, with better judging.

    2. The judges came on time and were very nice. They introduced themselves, listened to my presentation, asked helpful questions, and made suggestions for future work.

    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was a suggestion to do statistical analysis on my data. The least helpful comment was to continue the project for a longer period of time. That was not helpful because it was unrealistic for the participants to continue the project for more than 5 days, and the data would not be helpful because of the amount of time that has passed since the original viewing of the video.

    4. The food was very good.

    5. The Mock Science and Norwalk prepared me for SCISEF by helping me plan what I was going to say while presenting. They also helped me with answering questions, but did not prepare me for the amount of people at SCISEF.

    6. I thought the keynote presentation was very informative but very long. It was hard for the exhibitors to pay attention during the slideshow because we were tired from a long day and were distracted by the excitement of the science fair.

    7. I did not learn anything new about my project. Next fair, I will have a better idea of what I can do to improve the layout of my poster. I did not have time to view other students' posters, but the upperclassmen's posters were very interesting.

    8. I did not talk to any students from other schools. I mostly stayed with my amity friends.

    9. I believe having more mock science fairs would help prepare students more, especially with being comfortable with presenting.

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