You have a good question, so I will explain a little bit about science fair judging Every science fair has guidelines for projects and the science fair judges are given criteria for judging projects. For example, there are points for every section such as the hypothesis, experimental design, and conclusion and points for creativity and scientific thought.
Here is information from this website on evaluating science projects and it includes criteria that can be used for every section. I recommend that you read through this information to understand how science projects are evaluated. http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-f ... rces.shtml
You should also look up the rules and guidelines for the science fair that you will be entering.
The problem with judging science fair project is that generally all of the projects are very good and there can only be one winner in each category. If there are 25 really good projects and there can only be one winner, then it is necessary to compare the small details of each project and try and pick the best one. Sometimes there is only ½ point difference between the first and second place winner. That’s why it’s necessary to pay attention to small details when planning your project.
Science fair judges have a variety of experience and background, but generally science fair judging is done in teams, with multiple teams evaluating each project. This helps ensure fair judging and the final outcome is a consensus of the opinion of several experienced judges.
For this project, the basic experiment is good; you have designed an experiment that will compare different concentrations of SDS to determine the optimum concentration for purifying DNA. If I were judging this project, after I checked to make sure that you had designed a well-controlled experiment, understood the scientific principle behind your project, and had included all of the necessary sections, the first question I would ask would be about the purity of the sample. If, for example, you obtained a higher weight with 10% SDS compared to 5% SDS, I would want to know if there was any difference other than the quantity. Doing an additional test to verify the identity of the DNA and checking to make sure the sample does not contain a major contaminant (protein) would help validate your results and support your conclusion. The additional testing would complement the main experiment, and would not be considered unnecessary.
I don’t know what happened in the judging for your project last year. But it’s very important to learn from the past and make sure you don’t repeat the same mistake. What was your project last year? What was your experiment, and which testing was considered unnecessary? What project won compared to yours? If you could explain, I might be able to understand what happened and why the one judge made the comment about unnecessary testing.
Does this make sense? Do you have any ideas that would help make your project even better?