I used to judge regional science fair projects. Personally, I really like the students who understand their own experimental design and have done it well. The project's sophistication is almost irrelevant in the face of that. But that is me.
Yes to that! I like to see students who obviously created their own boards. Who screwed up the experiment and CAN TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED. Who are excited about what they discovered, even if what they discovered was only new to them.
But this is the rub. Sometimes the most interesting experiments are the messiest. They don't fit into neat little boxes, but explore areas of passion and interest.
Her "at home only" project with the mice was the most interesting, but it sure was messy (literally and figuratively). The sample size was too small and her experimental model wasn't working, so she ended up trying like three different things. But it was cool and a lot of fun. And we all found the results very interesting. For example, she couldn't prove that food color affected mouse intellect or memorization (the original goal). But she did discover that it affected activity level, weight, and odor.
Right now socially aware experiments seem to be in vogue... ones with a TEDx vibe, if you know what I mean.
