Teachers

This page is designed to assist Teachers and School Administrators in understanding the BASEF rules and eligibility requirements.

Eligibility

Eligibility: The Bay Area Science & Engineering Fair (BASEF) is open to all students in grades 7 to 12 (under the age of 21) who attend any public, separate, or private school, or who are home-schooled, in the City of Hamilton, the Region of Halton, Brant County, Haldimand County or Norfolk County.

Consent/Permission

Each student's Parent/Guardian must consent to the student's participation in the Fair. In addition, the school Principal or a school representative must also approve the student's participation and representation of his/her school.

BASEF Trip Awards - Consent and Travel Documents Requirements

The BASEF Grand Awards include trip awards to travel to and compete in the Canada Wide Science & Engineering Fair and the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Each winner's Parent/Guardian must consent to allow him/her to journey to these fairs with delegates/chaperones of the BASEF organizing committee's choosing, and International Trip award winners must have valid travel documents. More information is on our Trip Awards page.

Entries

Number of Entries: All registrations from any source are subject to the maximum number of entries per school. Each school is allowed to register sixteen (16) projects per Level:

Students may only exhibit the project they registered, using the same project title: no substitutions of projects or students are permitted. Total registrations are also limited by the fair's host site capacity. In case of over registration, acceptance will be based on earliest On-line Registration date and time. A student may not exhibit more than one project each year.

Make sure that your Students Register for BASEF on time - Online Project Registration begins February 1st, 2012, and closes March 7th at 4:30pm. All required forms must be mailed or faxed or emailed by March 9th, 2012. If you aren't sure which forms you need to have, ask us much sooner than the end of registration.  To help you register, check out our Junior (Grade 7/8) Registration Guide and our Intermediate/Senior (Grades 9-12) Registration Guide.  Late Registrations cannot be accepted.

Ethics

Ethics Statement: Scientific fraud and misconduct are not condoned at any level of research or competition. Such practices include plagiarism, forgery, use or presentation of other researcher’s work as one’s own and fabrication of data. Fraudulent projects will fail to qualify for competition in BASEF, CWSF or the ISEF.

Forms & Rules

Required Forms: Grade 7 & 8 Students are eligible for the CWSF (Canada Wide Science Fair) and must complete all required YSC (Youth Science Canada) Forms. High School students are eligible for both the CWSF and the International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF), and must comply with both sets of Rules. To meet both CWSF and ISEF requirements, high school students are asked to complete any required ISEF forms instead of the YSC forms. See the Forms Required page, and the relevant Rules sections for more details.

Team Projects: Group projects may consist of a maximum of two students. For group entries from two grades, the age division of the most senior student is used. Team membership cannot be changed during a given research year including converting to or from an individual project, but may be altered in subsequent years. The final work should reflect the coordinated efforts of all team members and will be evaluated using the same rules and judging criteria as individual projects. Each team must ensure one online registration form is completed for their project (not one per student). The team must also ensure that all required Forms are completed for their project. In addition, each team member must ensure they EACH provide a completed, signed BASEF consent form. Each high school team member must also provide a completed, signed Form 1B (ISEF Approval Form).

Continuation or Duplicate Projects: A student may not present a project identical to a previous year's project at BASEF. An improved project may be entered again into competition, however only research completed since the last BASEF fair may be displayed. Any continuing research must document substantial expansion of investigation and students will be judged on the current year's work only. If you are entering a project which is a continuation of previous years work, you must complete a Continuation Projects Form, and submit it with your project registration.

Consent/Permissions: All consent/permission forms must be signed by a parent/guardian and a school representative or principal. Some Scientific Review forms require additional signatures. Remember: Unlike previous years, if you wait until the end of registration for us to tell you what forms are missing, it will be TOO LATE.

Team Canada - YSC Competition: High school students who enter BASEF are automatically considered to be eligible for ISEF; it is also possible for students to apply to Youth Science Canada for consideration in their "Team Canada" competition, though this is less common. Details are on our ISEF Competition page.

Resources & Links

Teachers may find the following resources and links useful:

• Science Success! Teacher's Guide
• Project Resources Links
• NEW - Teacher's Guide to Registration (PDF)
• NEW - Junior Level (Grades 7 & 8) Registration Guide (PDF)
• NEW - Intermediate/Senior Level (Grades 9-12) Registration Guide (PDF)
• Junior Level (Grades 7 & 8) Rules Wizard
• High School Level ISEF Rules Wizard
• Forms Listing
• Teacher/Sponsor Tracking Form Junior Projects (PDF).
• Teacher/Sponsor Tracking Form Intermediate/Senior Projects (PDF).