The Winnipeg Schools’ Science Fair follows the science fair project guidelines set by the Canada Wide Science Fair and Youth Science Canada.
Project Competition Categories
Science fair projects will compete in three categories based on grade:
Level / Grade Range
Junior
Grade 7 and 8
Intermediate
Grade 9 and 10
Senior
Grade 11 and 12
**Please note that for all competition categories, there is a maximum of two students per project**
Project Types
When planning your science fair project, you have the option of selecting one of three project types:
- Discovery: Involves an investigation that tests a specific hypothesis using the scientific method.
- Innovation: Involves the development and evaluation of innovative devices or models, and/ or innovative techniques or approaches in fields such as technology, engineering or computers, etc.
- Creative: Involves exploring unique and imaginative ideas related to science. It focuses on learning new concepts, designing artistic displays, and presenting information in an engaging way. Creative projects often involve elements of design, aesthetics, and visual appeal. They encourage students to use their imagination and innovative thinking to solve problems or explore scientific concepts in unconventional ways.
All project types will be judged together within a respective grade category. However, the rubric judges will use to assess the different project types will vary slightly.
Project Challenge Categories
When creating your project, you will also be required to select a challenge category during the registration process. A detailed description of each challenge is given below.
- Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: your project helps ensure food security, sustainability or competitiveness in agriculture, fisheries or food production.
- Ancestral Knowledge: your project helps improve our understanding of ancestral knowledge connected to indigenous ways of being.
- Curiosity and Ingenuity: your project helps improve our understanding or address a problem in an area of STEAM not covered by other challenges.
- Digital Technology: your project helps improve our quality of life or transform existing products and services through digital devices, methods or systems.
- Disease and Illness: your project helps enhance diagnosis, treatment or understanding of disease, or the management of physical or mental illness.
- Energy: your project helps improve our use of the current energy sources, enable the transition to alternative energy sources, or reduce our energy footprint.
- Environment and Climate Change: your project helps ensure the quality of water, air, soil, or the diversity of living things, or manage the impact of climate change.
- Health and Wellness: your project helps prevent disease or promote physical, social, emotional, spiritual, environmental, occupational, or intellectual well-being.
- Natural Resources: your project helps ensure the sustainable management, use, reuse or recycling of Earth’s finite or renewable natural resources.
* Projects unrelated to one of the other challenges should select Curiosity and Ingenuity