Eligibility

The Bartlesville District Science Fair (BDSF) is open to public, private, and home school students from first through twelfth grades who reside in Washington, eastern Osage, western Nowata, and northern Rogers counties. At the Elementary Fair, the students' projects are grouped in two divisions (grades 1-3 and grades 4-5). For the Secondary Fair, grades are grouped as 6-8 (Junior Division) and 9-12 (Senior Division). Registration is "open," meaning that students wishing to enter do not have to participate in a school science fair first.

Rules for all Projects

The Bartlesville District Science Fair is an affiliated International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), which means that we must comply with the ISEF rules. These rules are suggested for grades 1 – 5, and mandatory for grades 6 – 12 at the BDSF. We encourage all students, teachers, and parents to be familiar with the rules, as they provide excellent guidance to assure student safety.

Rules for Secondary Junior and Senior Division Projects

The full ISEF handbook is available at this website, and includes rules, forms, and a student handbook. Please note that students registering to compete in the Secondary Junior or Senior Divisions of the BDSF must also submit a copy of the appropriate ISEF forms before they are eligible to compete. The forms must be uploaded to the registration website when students register. Original forms should be retained by the student and will need to be provided if the student advances to state competition. These forms help keep students safe and are required for our ISEF affiliation. Students that fail to submit ISEF forms will not be allowed to compete in the BDSF.

Some of the strictest ISEF rules pertain to experiments involving human subjects, animals, and microorganisms. Projects involving human subjects must receive prior approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) before starting experimentation. Students should consult with their teachers if they believe they need IRB approval. Projects involving vertebrate animals and microorganisms require prior approval from our Scientific Review Committee (SRC); for these projects the student needs to prepare their research plan and submit it to the SRC, which is chaired by Elizabeth Hine at Eashine123@gmail.com. Remember, approvals through an IRB or the SRC are required before any experimental work is started. Now is the time for students to get these approvals started. Please remember: all 6 – 12th grade projects require a minimum of forms 1, 1A, Research Plan Attachment, and 1B, filled out and approved, before experimentation begins.

Communicating with the Fair 

Please reach out to Science Fair Director (see footer) with any questions!