🎤 What judges ask, and how a 9-year-old answers

Before the judge arrives

Judging is a short talk, not a test. At the Alpine School District's fair, two judges visit each project for about four to five minutes. They want to hear you explain your test in your own words.

Stand beside your board, not in front of it, with your logbook and your table where you can point to them. It's fine to say "I don't know, but I could test that." Judges like that answer far more than a made-up one.

The nine questions, and one 9-year-old's answers

These answers are examples for the ice melt project, with made-up numbers where numbers are needed. Yours should be about your own project, in your own words.

• What made you want to ask this question? "We put salt on our front steps when it snows, and I wondered if sugar or sand would work too."
• What did you think would happen, and why? "I thought salt would be fastest, because it's what goes on icy roads. I thought sugar wouldn't do anything at all."
• What did you change, and what did you measure? "I changed what I sprinkled on the ice: nothing, salt, sugar and sand. I measured how long each cube took to melt, in minutes."
• What did you keep the same, and why does that matter? "I used ice cubes from the same tray and the same teaspoonful every time, and the plates sat side by side. If one cube was bigger, it would take longer, and that wouldn't be fair."
• How many times did you test it? "I tested each one 3 times, so that's 12 cubes altogether."
• What did you find out? Show me in your numbers. "Look at my mean column. With salt the cubes took about 20 minutes. With nothing they took about 45. Sugar was 35, and sand was nearly the same as nothing."
• Was your hypothesis right? How do you know? "Partly right. Salt was fastest, like I said. But sugar was faster than nothing, so I was wrong about sugar. You can see it in my means."
• Did anything go wrong, or surprise you? "One cube melted really fast, and then I saw its plate was in a sunny spot. I moved the plates out of the sun and did that try again. It's in my logbook."
• If you did it again, what would you change or test next? "I'd try 1, 2 and 3 teaspoons of salt, to see if more salt melts it faster."

What makes these answers good

• They name the real things: salt, sugar, sand, minutes. Not "stuff".
• They point at the board: "look at my mean column".
• They're honest about the surprise and about the odd try.
• They're short. A judge has a lot of projects to see.

Practise at home

Ask a grown-up to be the judge and read the nine questions out loud. Answer standing up, pointing at your board. Then try the judge's practice: Peabody asks the nine questions about your own project, and you pick the answer that tells.

Do it twice, once the week before and once the night before. The second time is always easier, and on the day it will feel like a chat.

Grown-ups: what judges reward has what studies of real fairs found about practising out loud.