PS3 Guidelines for Participation

All students grades 9-12 in both public and private schools are invited to participate. Participation in the Symposium offers many benefits to the student including:
  • A means to integrate student learning in science, social studies & language arts.
  • An opportunity to receive guidance from a scientist or expert on a topic chosen by the student.
  • Experience in writing a scientific paper & making an oral presentation to peers and professionals.
  • A chance to participate in a scientific conference, take field trips, & have their work published.

For a complete set of rules and other useful information, please read the Symposium Handbook.

TWO TYPES OF PAPERS CAN BE ENTERED FOR THE PS3:
  • Experimental Reseach Papers: Experimental research begins as a question & involves actual experimentation to gather data that will help answer the question. A research project may also be a field study or an engineering project. A field study involves monitoring some aspect of the environment, such as types of birds in the Kawainui Marsh. Engineering projects include designing, building & testing a device. ONLY EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH PAPERS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE NATIONAL JSHS COMPETITION.

  • Library Research Papers: Library research papers involves selecting a topic or problem & doing extensive reading in books & journals; then writing an organized report of your findings. Library research papers are acceptable for presentation at the PS3, but are not eligible for the JSHS competition.

Students may present a report on work done as part of a class project (for extra credit) or as a science fair or summer research project. Only one student is allowed on a project. A team project from the Hawaii State Science & Engineering Fair can be entered if only one team member writes up the report & presents only the research that he or she worked on. The student should also fully acknowledge all the work that was done by the other team member(s).

The student papers will be reviewed by a scientest or expert in the field, then returned. The students with well-written papers will be invited to participate in the PS3. It is strongly recommended that students use the reviewers' comments to improve their papers before presentation at the Symposium on Oahu.