24 th Hwa Chong Institution Projects Competition BRIEFING 2008

Objectives  To enhance the research culture amongst both pupils and teachers  To promote (active and creative) learning beyond the classroom

Quote “Enabling Teachers, Nurturing Students through Innovation and Enterprise” Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education I&E is about a qualitative change in the interactions between teachers and students, in and out of the classroom. I&E is about teaching less and learning more, about spurring independent thinking and learning, and about encouraging students to follow their passions.

Joy / Passion Life Skills Challenge & Opportunity Showcase creativity Apply knowledge Serve community Thinking Problem solving Collaboration Communication etc Open minds Creates new knowledge What’s in it for you?

10 categories of projects Experimental Research 1 Non-Experimental Research 2 (NEW) Innovation & Problem-Solving 3 Resource Development 4 Creative Arts 5 Language Arts (English) 6 Language Arts (Chinese) 7 Service Learning 8 Maths & Infocomm Research 9 Guidelines for each Project Category provided on Competition Website Entrepreneurship 10

Projects Competition Committee Resource Person : Ms Yeo Hwee Joo (DST) Projects Competition Manager : Mr Steven Su Co-ordinators Cat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 6 Cat 7Cat 8Cat 9aCat 9bCat 10 Cat 5Cat 4

Rules and Regulations  Compulsory for Sec 1 & Sec 2  Sec 3 & 4 – strongly encouraged  Max 1 project per student  No of members  4 (per group)  Members : different consortiums / levels / schools / countries  Age group applies  A HCI teacher-mentor  Maintain a website from semi-finals, and to be uploaded prior to semi-finals judging  Observe copyright laws         

No. of members in a group  If group has  4 members  only mentor needs to respond (i.e. accept or reject group)  If group has >4 but  6 members  mentor responds  coordinator responds  If group has >6 members  please see Project Manager

Number of projects allowed  If 1 project  only mentor needs to respond  If 2 projects  mentor responds  Director Consortium responds  If >2 projects  mentor responds  Dean of Studies responds

Signing up of project  Sign up for your compulsory project first  e.g. AEP, SMRP, SMTP, EP, etc  In the NEW registration portal  the first project must be approved or rejected first  then only will you be allowed to team up for a second project

Take note  Issue of loafer(s) in a group  when a group has too many members, some members may not have much to do  leader should devise a workplan to divide work equally for each member (e.g. web designer, researcher, presenter, etc)  mentor must be consulted frequently

Take note  Uploading of web files from semi-finals onwards  use English operating system to create all your work  to minimize inconveniences to yourself later on when uploading is carried out

Awards  Reflected in EOY Result Slip GradeAchievementRounds A*OutstandingGrand Finals AVery GoodFinals B+GoodSemi-finals BFair GoodSemi-finals CFairPreliminary DParticipationPreliminary

Take note  If a group, after committing to do a project, gives a NO SHOW or WITHDRAW from the project judging  mentor and director consortium will be kept informed  if reason(s) is not acceptable, project work will be graded ‘F’ in the EOY result slip

Awards for Lower Sec Achievement Relevant subject Other subjects A* or High Dist 12 CP 5 CP A or Dist 10 CP 4 CP B+ 8 CP 3 CP B 5 CP 2 CP C or D 0 CP

Awards for Upper Sec Achievement Relevant subject Other subjects A* or High Dist 10 CP 4 CP A or Dist 9 CP 3 CP B+ or Merit 7 CP 2 CP B or Semi-Finalist 4 CP 1 CP C or D 0 change takes effect from 2008

Awards  Medals  Only for those who obtained Grade A* (and Sec 1s who obtained Grade A)  Certificates  for Dist and High Dist only  10 Outstanding Entries will qualify for the Grand Finals (Projects Day)  1 st prize: $500  2 nd prize: $400  3 rd prize: $300  Merit awards: $100 book vouchers

Awards Website Design Award  1 st prize: $ 80  2 nd prize: $ 50  3 rd prize: $ 30  For those who qualify for the Finals, but excluded from the Grand Finals  Provided webpage is not taken from freeware template/design, nor from someone else’s work (i.e. must be purely original web design)

Take note  Poster Design Competition will be removed from this year

Schedule RoundsDates Preliminary*01 Apr 08, Tue (T2/Wk3) Semi-Finals*08 Jul 08, Tue (T3/Wk2) Finals15 Aug 08, Fri (T3/Wk8) Grand Finals*12 Sep 08, Fri (T4/Wk1) * Curriculum hours

Judging  Centralised  managed by co-ordinators  judged by teachers  Instructions  issued by co-ordinators  posted on emb / competition website  Assessment rubrics  competition website

Judging  For All Rounds  oral presentation  Semi-finals  includes presentation of a part of the web-based report  Finals  includes judging of web-report

Judgi ng  Grand Finals (Oral Presentation)  compete amongst different categories of project work  judged by professionals from external institutions / organizations  Assessment Criteria  access/download from competition website  will be updated

Take note Reflections to take stock of your learning journey as you do your project will be incorporated in the judging rubrics from this year (NEW)

Registration  Online Registration  Via competition website, just after CNY in Week7  Deadline : 07 Mar 08 (T1/Week10/Fri)  Register under appropriate category  Provide up-to-date data

Take note  Ethics agreement  before a student is allowed to sign up for a project, an ETHICS agreement must be signed online  if no agreement is signed, the student’s USERID will not be available for project registration  a real case that occurred

Take note  To allow for a project to be judged on its own merit, no mention of mentor’s or advisor’s name, nor name of institution in the following rounds of judging  Prelim  Semi-finals  Finals  Acknowledgements carried out only at the Grand Finals

Registration List of registered entries and accepted or rejected groups will be posted online 2 registration portal 3 confirm details 4 submit details 5 mentor gets 6 mentor makes decision 7 see portal for results 1 seek mentor’s permission

Take note  If after 2 to 3 days, no action taken (that is, accept or reject) by mentor  leader (or one member) make an effort to find out the reason

Judging Venues  Various venues  e.g. classrooms, LTs, Computer Labs, LRCs, Consortium Rooms, new Science Research Labs, etc  Check competition website for details

Project briefing cum workshop  To be carried out for all pupils in Term 2, once registration is confirmed  Will be reflected in Term 2’s calendar

Take note  When writing s to Principals, Deans, Directors, Coordinators, Mentors or Project Manager  observe decorum in the use of English, and the manner it is written

Take note  Appeal for project  once results are published, judges’ decisions are final  should a member or a group be aggrieved after a judging event, an appeal can be made  appeal can be made through mentor  appeal committee will be formed, which will be made up of Directors and above  only genuine cases will be taken up