1. 24 th Hwa Chong Institution Projects Competition BRIEFING 2008

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

3. 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.

4. 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?

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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         

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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 CP @ change takes effect from 2008

17. 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

18. 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)

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

20. 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

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

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

23. 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

24. 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)

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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 e-mail 6 mentor makes decision 7 see portal for results 1 seek mentor’s permission

29. 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

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

31. 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

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

33. 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