Schedule
- Mon. Aug. 1, 2022 at 8:00am PST: Project Registration opens – required for ALL projects! Register Here
- Wed. Feb. 1, 2023 at 11:59pm PST: Project Registration closes – required for ALL projects. No exceptions.
- Wed. Feb 20, 2023 11:59pm 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. Feb. 1, 2023 at 11:59pm PST.
- Wed. Mar.8, 2023: Project Judging for Board Awards (Zoom)
- Sun. Mar TBD, 2023: Open House & Awards Assembly – Chapman University (In-Person) ***
- Sat. Mar 18, 2023: ISEF Judging
***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 11:59pm 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 STUDENTS name. This includes emails as well. Students who do not comply with this instruction will be disqualified
- Please submit your application with your personal email address (Do not use school email address). Some districts’ 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/
Initial Screening
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 pre-approval prior to the start of any research. After completing the 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 Registration
Once a student completes the Project Registration (with appropriate certification forms, if needed), 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 11:59pm PST
- Project Registration closes Feb 1, 2023 11:59pm 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 11:59pm PST: https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/
- Maximum 3 min video about your project
- Picture of your display board
- Pictures of key pages from the log book
- Student and parent consent
OCSEF offers two options for students to submit their projects:
Option #1: Traditional Display Board
Prepare a traditional display board that adheres to all specifications and restrictions. This may be an option for students who need a traditional display board for other purposes. Upon completion, upload a digital picture of your board when registering your project online . The digital picture must capture ALL essential board components AND BE CLEARLY VISIBLE AND READABLE TO ANY VIEWER.
Option #2: Slide Deck Presentation (see link to template below – highly recommended)
Use a pre-designed digital backboard Google Slide Deck Template presentation, adhering to 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 registering your project online. Although use of a digital backboard slide deck is an option, IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and will better assist students in structuring their interviews with judges.
New SLIDE deck for Science and Engineering Projects coming Oct 1, 2022
Project Video
In the OCSEF 2022 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.