Display and Safety
Safety: Prohibited Items
THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE PROHIBITED AND UNACCEPTABLE FOR DISPLAY. THESE ITEMS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE FAIR. PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE THEM IN ANY PART OF YOUR EXHIBIT!!!
The Reading-Berks Science and Engineering Fair is an ISEF-affiliated science fair. ISEF provides guidelines for the safety of the students and the public. ISEF guidelines have been used to develop the following rules.
- Living organisms e.g. live plants, animals, microbes (bacteria), fungi (mushrooms) Suggestion: use photographs or drawings
- Dried plant materials
- Taxidermy specimens or parts, preserved vertebrate or invertebrate animals (includes embryos human or animal food, human or animal parts) Exceptions: teeth, hair, nails, dried animal bones, histological dry mount sections, wet mount tissue slides, empty container of product or picture
- Soil or waste samples
- All chemicals, INCLUDING WATER Suggestion: use the empty container or art supplies to simulate the product
- Soaps, paints, make-up, shampoo, other cosmetics
- Poisons, drugs, controlled substances, hazardous substances or devices (i.e. firearms, weapons, ammunition, reloading devices)
- Dry ice or other sublimating solids (solids which vaporize to a gas without passing through a liquid phase)
- Sharp items (syringes, needles, pipettes, any sharp pointed objects on a display)
- Flames or highly flammable display materials
- Empty tanks or containers that previously contained combustible liquids or gases, unless purged with carbon dioxide
- Batteries with open top cells (acceptable to use 1.5 v flashlight battery)
- Awards, medals, business cards, flags, corporate or institutional logos
- Photographs or other visual presentations depicting vertebrate animals in other-than-normal conditions (i.e.. surgical techniques, dissection, necropsies or other lab techniques)
ACCEPTABLE FOR DISPLAY ONLY (MAY NOT BE OPERATED)
- Projects with unshielded belts, pulleys, chains and moving parts with tension or pinch points
- Class III and IV lasers
- Any device requiring over 110 volts.
The RBSEF will reject any exhibit which, in its opinion, is not safe or which constitutes a hazard in a public exhibition.
There will be no exceptions to these rules!
Eligibility and Exhibit Rules
1. Eligibility Rules: Determine whether or not you can compete.
- Your exhibit may not be an identical repetition of one you entered at the Reading-Berks Science & Engineering Fair in a previous year.
- You may not enter a team project (project completed by more than one student).
- You may compete in only one science fair affiliated with the International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) in any one school year. If you have competed in a fair not affiliated with ISEF, you may enter that project in the Reading Berks Science & Engineering Fair.
- If you are in grades 6, 7 or 8, you will enter your exhibit in the Junior Division.
- If you are in grades 9, 10, 11 or 12, you will enter your exhibit in the Senior Division.
- You must apply for display space at RBSEF before the registration deadline.
- Your school must be in Berks County. If you are a homeschool student, you must live in Berks County.
- Cyber school students must live in Berks County and register as homeschool students.
- If your project involves vertebrate animals, human subjects, tissue, recombinant DNA, pathogenic/potentially pathogenic agents, controlled substances, hazardous substances or devices, or blood – you must fill out special forms (see button below) and get approval BEFORE you start experimenting.
2. Exhibit Information: Size and Weight Restrictions
- Size limits for all exhibits: Grades 6 through 12
Maximum size of 36 inches wide, 72 inches high and 15 inches deep is allowed for table top exhibits. Floor exhibits with a maximum height of 108 inches are available by request only. - Weight limits for all exhibits: Grades 6 through 12
All table top projects must weigh less than 100 pounds. Floor exhibits are available with a weight limit of 250 pounds. - Size accommodations for senior division, grades 9 through 12 only
For the senior division only, if your project requires a 48-inch wide space, you may make a request and a wider space will be assigned to you at project setup.
3. Disqualifying Violations
- Your exhibit may not have any words or photos that identify you or your subjects in your project.
- You may not acknowledge names, email addresses, or physical addresses of individuals who have helped you with your project.
- You may not include your school name, teacher’s name or your frontal (face) picture on your project board or in your notebook.
4. Additional Exhibit Guidance
- Your exhibit should include a project notebook and research paper placed on the table in front of your display.
- Your project number must be on the back of the display board and in the notebook.
- Set up your project between the lines in the correct space. Your first name and project id will be on a sticker on the table indicating your designated display area.
RBSEF Required Forms
1. Forms for Grades 6-8
- All students complete Form 1: Checklist for Adult Sponsor
- All students complete Form 1B: Approval Form
- If you do not need to check items in number 4 (projects dealing with vertebrate animals, some human experiments, fungi, microbes, recombinant DNA and tissue cultures) of Form 1, you are finished.
- If you do need to check any items in 4 on Form 1 you need to follow the Grade 9-12 form requirements.
2. Forms for Grades 9-12
- All students complete Form 1: Checklist for Adult Sponsor
- All students complete Form 1A: Student Checklist (numbers 10 Research Plan and 11 Abstract are optional and not required for this fair, use of estimated dates is ok)
- All students complete Form 1B: Approval Form
- If you need to check any items in 4 on Form 1, (projects dealing with vertebrate animals, some human experiments, fungi, microbes, recombinant DNA and tissue cultures) additional forms may be required.
- Use the ISEF Rules Wizard to help you determine which forms to use.