Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General FAQs
Yes, of course! All the materials that you need for the Sacramento Regional STEM Fair can be found here on the website. Everything that teachers receive can also be found here! So, don’t let your school’s non-participation stop you from doing a project! Students in grades 5 through 12 are eligible to enter the Fair who are in public, private, parochial, and home schools in Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Solano, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba counties. Our High School Division complies with the Intel ISEF Rules for Pre-College Science Research
The NorCal STEM Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Sacramento. The Foundation is managed by Blanning and Baker Associates Inc. The STEM Fair is made possible through volunteers and enthusiastic teachers, administrators, business people, scientists, engineers, etc. – all dedicated to the promotion of the next generation of student STEM research and development.
Yes! Please see our Other Competitions Page for more information.
How To Prepare your Project FAQs
We like to recommend a perusal of our website: #engineeringprojects. Our Student Handbook also contains information you need regarding Engineering Design Process and how these projects are judged. #studenthandbook
We know that different STEM projects take a different amount of time, however, we do have a suggested timeline available that will help you keep the stress level to a minimum! You can view it the timelines when you click on the links below: #suggestedprojecttimeline
The best place to start to answer this question is to read our Items not allowed at your display document. See the Rules & Regulations for specificity.
However, the big no-no’s are anything potentially dangerous – hypodermic needles, diseased organisms, etc – anything of great monetary value, anything large enough to infringe on another exhibitor’s space, and live plants & animals.
Check out the Helpful Websites under the Student Information link for some project advice and help. Please don’t hesitate to call us at 916-441-3150 or to email us at mailto:sacstemfair@sacSTEMfair.org.
Student Registration FAQs
You can have 3 people on a team. These team members can be from other schools and different grades within your division of Middle or High School. However, you must make sure your teachers know that you are registering with a student from another school if you are participating through your science or engineering class. If you want to participate with a student in another grade, be careful because you will be judged by the oldest in the group. You cannot compete with a middle school and high school mixed team.
The Student Leader on a team will submit the entire on-line registration. Each team member needs to scan their signed respective parental/student consent forms and provide them to the Student Leader to submit with the on-line registration prior to the start of the registration.
If you would like to change anything about your project, but you have already COMPLETELY submitted it, please contact Nadia at ncompton@sacstemfair.org.
For our registration, a project abstract is a brief paragraph or two (limited to 250 words or 1,800 characters) summarizing the major points/most important ideas about a project. An abstract is what allows judges to determine the nature, scope, and skill of a project. Students should:
- Emphasize these aspects: purpose (hypothesis), methods (procedures used), how they will collect data in a quick summary, and expected conclusions.
- Focus only on the current year’s research.
- Use short complete sentences, but vary sentence structure. Don’t abbreviate by omitting articles or other small words in order to save space.
- Avoid jargon and use appropriate scientific language.
- Use concise syntax, correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
The Staff suggests that you coordinate with the student’s English/Language teacher to assist the student in not only writing the abstract, but working on the structure in order to provide judges the best description possible.
NOTE: High school students should complete an abstract following the Regeneron ISEF form here once they have completed their projects – in the case they are selected to continue to ISEF, they will need this form to be completed.
If you are unable to sign the form on-line, you can print out the section; each page with a signature has a link at the bottom which will give you a printable version. Then you can either scan and upload the signed sheet back into the registration, or you can email it to Nadia at ncompton@sacstemfair.org. You also have the option to fax to (916)442-4182 or mail to 455 Capitol Mall, Ste 500 Sacramento, CA 95814.
When there is a team project, only one student (the Student Leader) needs to fill out the registration.
Yes, all projects which involve humans – whether it is in survey form or non-anonymous observation – need to turn in a sample of their informed consent form in their registration. There is an option to upload the form they developed into their registration. If they are unable to do so, they can email, fax or mail it. The form does not need to be signed when turned in for registration. However, during the Fair it is crucial that students bring the signed consent forms just in case the judges ask for an example.
A Qualified Scientist is an individual with a doctoral/professional degree related to student research or Master’s degree with SRC approval.
The deadline to submit registration in the Competition Division for the 2021 Sacramento Regional STEM Fair is in February 2021. There will be no exceptions. If you miss the competition deadline, you will be automatically entered into the Showcase Division.
If you or your students are struggling with the deadlines, PLEASE do not be discouraged. Send us a note (sacstemfair@sacstemfair.org) and we would be happy to discuss it with you!
Event Day & exhibitors FAQs
With the ever changing climate post-pandemic, the STEM Fair planning is taking every precaution to ensure that our event goes off without a hitch.
Please bear with us as we develop the details and plans for our next event.
Details to be released soon.
thank you!
Judge FAQs
See Items Not Allowed At Your Display list.
Judges will have time to look over the project boards and preview the displays. prior to the commencement of judging. Only students and judges are present in the exhibit hall for judging on Saturday beginning at 9AM. Students should be prepared to summarize their projects and/or answer questions about it in 2-3 minutes or less. After 2-3 minutes, judges can begin to ask questions about the project. Remember, you are judging the project, not the student – do not ask personal questions like age, grade, or school. Please feel free to give as much positive feedback as time will allow.
Tax Deductable
Tax ID #91-2169205
Contributions to the NSE Foundation are Tax Deductible —
For additional information contact Nadia Compton, Director at (916) 441-3150 or ncompton@sacstemfair.org