EVALUATION CRITERIA

firSTep 2023 Online Edition will be organised in three phases:

1. Local Rounds organised by the schools by their own jurisdiction. School projects will be evaluated and ranked according to the results will be entered in the Firstep Registration Portal.
   

 

2. Qualifications: firSTep jury members will evaluate the projects from their documentation and project videos according to the ranked list given by the schools and qualify the top 20 projects from all schools to the Grand Finals.

 

3. Grand Final: Qualified projects (20 projects for each category) will be evaluated by the firSTep jury over Zoom.

The jury will be looking for the following criteria in students’ projects:

Personal Interest

• Why did you choose this topic? Is there a personal interest on the topic?

Creativity / originality

• Is this work original, never done before?
• Does your research show creativity? Is there any different and original approach to the problem you want to solve?
• Did you construct or design new equipment?

Scientific Methods

• Did you clearly state your problem?
• Did you use scientific literature when you do your initial research?
• Which methods did you use to solve the problem?
• Did you clearly state your variables?
• Did you use controlled variables?
• Did you keep a project journal?
• Did you keep detailed notes in your journal?

Effort and Understanding the Project

• Does your data support your conclusions?
• Do you recognize the limitations of the data / experiment? And did you state them in your conclusions?
• Did you complete all parts of your research experiment?
• Do you recognize the limitations of the data / experiment? And did you state them in your conclusions?
• Did you make suggestions for future improvements?

Applications

• Was the project performed at home, school, university laboratory?
• Of what value is your project to society?

Quality of Display

• Clearity: Check to see if the material is organized, with clear graphics and legends
• Supporting Documents: Check to see if supporting documentation is available
• Correctness: Are the spelling, neatness, and grammar correct?
• Design: How does the display/presentation/website look? Is it easy to navigate and user friendly to read the information?

Video Criteria

• Does the student's school name (or logo) appear at the end?
• Is the duration of the video between 2-4 minutes?
• Does the student wear school uniform or dress appropriately?
• Is the explanation and demonstration clear?
• Are there audio-visual materials to enrich the content and to make the concepts more understandable and interesting to the viewer?