Schedule
- Mon. August 1, 2022 at 8:00 am PST: Project Registration opens – Required for ALL projects! Register Here
- Wed. February 1, 2023 at 11:59 pm PST: Project Registration closes – Required for ALL projects. No exceptions.
- Wed. February 20, 2023 11:59 pm PST: Project Submittal – Presentation slide deck, Log book, Video Submittal deadline. No exceptions. Project submittal will be allowed only for students who have completed their project registration on or before the deadline Wed. February 1, 2023 at 11:59 pm PST.
- Wed. March 8, 2023: Project Judging for Board Awards (Zoom)
- Sun. March TBD, 2023: Open House & Awards Assembly – Chapman University (In-Person) ***
***Subject to change
OCSEF 2023 will follow a two-step process:
Step 1: Project Registration
Step 2: Project Submittal
Projects registered on or before Feb 1, 2023 at 11:59 pm PST and approved by the OCSEF SRC team will be allowed to move to the project submittal step. OCSEF SRC team will review every project registered in our 2023 competition. They will send an approval or ask for more information based on the project description provided. Please note that the SRC must approve your project in order to be able to move to step 2 which is project submittal.
OCSEF does not have an appeal process. All judges’ decisions are final.
Important:
- DO NOT SUBMIT DUPLICATE PROJECTS
- Students who submit duplicate projects will be disqualified
- OCSEF 2023 Applications and SurveyMonkey account name MUST BE in the STUDENT’S name. This includes emails as well. Students who do not comply with this instruction will be disqualified
- Submit your application with your personal email address (Do not use school email address). Some district firewalls prevent email delivery from non-school district organizations.
Use this link to begin the multi-step process: https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/
Project Registration
All projects require project registration. OCSEF is using SurveyMonkey Apply for our 2023 registration software. The first step, Project Registration should be completed before the deadline, Fri. Feb. 1, 2023 by all Orange County students planning to enter a project in our 2023 Fair.
Registration: https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/
Projects involving (1) humane treatment of live vertebrate animals, (2) hazards control (i.e. projects involving microbiology, vertebrate animal tissue, hazardous chemicals and hazardous equipment), (3) human subjects and/or (4) regulated research (at a lab facility) must follow proper state/federal safety regulations and submit a proposal, along with appropriate Certification Form(s), for additional review prior to the start of any research. After completing Project Registration, if the student answers “yes” to any/all of the 4 questions posed, the registration system will move students to the Pre-Approval Questionnaire which will require completion of appropriate certification forms.
https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/
Please contact src.ocsef@gmail.com or src@ocsef.org for any additional questions.
Project Submittal
Once a student completes the Project Registration (with appropriate certification forms, if required), the SRC team will review projects and will move students to PROJECT SUBMITTAL for the Virtual OCSEF competition if all the documents and accurate project description are provided. https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/
- Project Registration opens Aug. 1, 2022 11:59 pm PST
- Project Registration closes Feb 1, 2023 11:59 pm PST
- Application Status can be found at https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/
After project registration, OCSEF SRC will send a project approval to the student applicant. Once the project is approved, the following project components must be uploaded to the OCSEF for project submittal by Feb 20, 2023 11:59 pm PST: https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/
- Maximum 3 min video about your project
- Slide Deck using the OCSEF format.
- Pictures of key pages from the log book
- Student and parent consent
- Instructions for Slide Deck Presentation
- Use a pre-designed digital backboard Google Slide Deck Template presentation. You need to comply with all criteria and formatting clearly outlined in the first two slides of the template. Once the slide deck presentation is completed, save the file as a PDF and upload it when you register your project online. The use of a standard presentation format assures equity in judging.
- New SLIDE deck for Science and Engineering Projects coming Oct 1, 2022.
Project Video
In the OCSEF 2023 Virtual format, every student has to submit a 3-minute video that includes the following: OCSEF compliance team will review every video for time compliance. No more than 3 mins allowed.
Introduction:
- Your name, grade and school
- The title of your project, explaining your question and hypothesis
- Equipment used in your project
Methods:
Science Projects
- Your experimental process
- Variables that you controlled and tested
- Size of your test group and number of trials
Engineering Projects
- The engineering problem you wanted to solve
- What you built
- What you did to improve your project
Conclusion:
- Explain your observations, data, charts and graphs.
- What would be further research ideas or additional questions and next steps based on your experiments?
- Who might be interested in your findings, and why?
Group Projects:
- If you have a group project, every student must present in the video.
- Groups of two – each student presents for 1.5 minute each.
- Groups of three – each students presents for 1 minute each.
- Please combine the videos to one video only for submission. YouTube has some great resources on how to combine videos.
- Remember, during a face-to-face interview, each student gets a chance to present and we expect the same in the video as well.