What is the role of a parent (or mentor) in the students project?
At a minimum, a parent of a high school student must sign a form (1B) giving their approval of the project BEFORE experimentation/data collection starts. Any further role for the parent depends on the student, the parent and the project. Parents can also be adult sponsors or mentors depending on their area of expertise. There is always a concern that the project is the parent’s, not the student’s. The most important thing is that the student is learning science and engineering problem solving. In the total project work, a large majority of the design and implementation needs to be done by the student. However, some projects require more assistance from adults than others. Judges will look for the total creative input of the student. Some projects use professional equipment requiring training and the use of standard protocols. It is ok if the student uses these if the student has counterbalancing creative input into the phrasing of the research question, the experimental or engineering
