The Foresight Project/Imagining Tomorrow 2008 Masschusetts Science Fair Awards Guidelines and Rules            

General Comments:

Our knowledge about clean energy technologies and our understanding of the implications for adopting them are increasing every day — much faster than textbooks and standard classroom materials can cover. 

Because of this, The Foresight Project, as part of the Imagining Tomorrow program in Massachusetts, is working with the Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair (MSSEF) this year to motivate and recognize student work in science on the issues of clean technology at both the high-school and middle-school level. 

Now in its 59th year, the Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair is both an opportunity and a showcase for inquiry-based learning in all areas of science.  We are pleased to be able to join with them to present these awards:

Rules To Qualify: 

• At both the regional and state fairs, award recipients will be chosen from among the winners as selected by the MSSEF organization.  Please see the Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair website for any information about rules and entry procedures, http://www.scifair.com/, as well as for the dates of the fairs in your area. 
• The student project must be related to clean energy issues, technologies, or solutions.  See guidelines below for details and examples. 
• The student report required by the MSSEF to accompany the entry should include information on how the project is connected to clean energy issues, technologies, and solutions; the project should look at clean technology from a holistic standpoint. 

Awards:

• High-School Regional: The best qualifying project at each of the high-school regional science fairs will receive a cash award of $125, a Certificate of Recognition, and a “Visionary in Residence” T-shirt. 

• Middle-School Regional:  The best qualifying project at each of the middle-school regional science fairs will receive a Certificate of Recognition, and a “Visionary in Residence” T-shirt. 

• High-School and Middle School State Fairs:  There will also be two awards at each of the state high-school and middle-school fairs.

Please note that there are two paths to the State Fair:  to be a winner at a regional fair, or to be a delegate directly from your school. 

Guidelines for Projects:

All Clean Tech Award projects must focus on a topic that is related to clean energy issues such as gobal climate, clean technologies, or effeciency analysis.  This can be in any of the MSSEF categories, from Astronomy, Biology, and Behavioral Science, through Electronics, Engineering to Math and Physics.  You should be able to comment on the connection to clean energy in discussion of your topic.  Please note that if you are investigating one aspect of a system, you should be informed about the overall energy consumption of the system that you are studying.  For example:  mag-lev trains are themselves "clean", but how much energy does it take to produce the magnetic system?  Or super-conductivity may be a more efficient way of transferring or storing energy, but how much energy is required to produce the conditions for super-conductivity? 

Examples are:

Climate and weather Issues in Clean Technology:  Although we talk about climate change, climate is actually an overall average that is stable from year to year.  By changing the composition of our atmosphere, we are in a situation of climate changing: what are these implications?  Climate is a combination of many feedback loops that result in specific weather conditions in individual locations.  How do non-linear or feedback systems work? 

Benefits of Renewable Energy:  Explore or investigate a problem that could be addressed by the adoption of clean energy or reduced energy use. 

Conversion of Renewable Energy Sources into Usable Power:  Explore an energy conversion technology.  These could include (but are not limited to) conversion of solar radiation into electrical, hot water, space heat (as in passive solar design) or lighting; the use of wind power and the factors that result in an appropriate design; hydropower and related technologies; or projects that look at factors related to the use of biomass for fuel. 

Improved Efficiency of Energy Use:  Explore how to accomplish a specific task with less energy.  This could include (but is not limited to) studies of technological systems or comparisons between technological and biological energy transformations. 

Reduced Energy Use through Behavioral Changes:  Explore or investigate the how, what, where, or when of human behavior that can lead to or result in a reduction of energy use. These may include surveys of human behavior or motivation, behavior experiments, or statistical analysis of human behavior. 

For additional potential examples, check out “Questions to Consider: About Science and Technology” at www.itomorrow.theforesightproject.org. 

Any questions should be addressed to info@cleantechawards.org. 

Use your imagination and enjoy your journey of discovery!