and the following Connecticut Science Centers

Keep Connecticut Cool! The Climate Change Challenge

For students in grades 5 through 12

Rules for the 2009-2010 Challenge Year. (Updated 9/09) Click here for a printable version

Introduction

1. Schedules and Deadlines

2. Team Make-up and Eligibility

3. Divisions

4. Registration Process

5. Submitting an Entry

6. Judging Criteria

7. Judging and Awards

8. General

9. Use of Copyright Materials

10. Disqualification

11. Finality of Decisions

12. Changes

13. Ownership of Materials

14. Non-Discrimination Policy

15. Responsible Party and Operator of the Program

Introduction

Scientific research on the earth's climate is producing significant new knowledge about how our climate system operates and the impact of human activity on it. This new knowledge brings great challenges, especially for today's young people, who may face serious climatic changes in their lifetimes if appropriate action is not taken now. But, every challenge presents opportunity.

Keep Connecticut Cool! The Climate Change Challenge (Keep Connecticut Cool!) provides an opportunity for Connecticut middle and high school students to learn about climate science and the causes of climate change and to create local solutions.

Students participating in Keep Connecticut Cool! will:

· Learn the basics of climate science as well as how human activities are impacting our climate.

· Conduct a greenhouse gas emissions “inventory” of their schools, homes or other institutions to see how local activities contribute to climate change.

· Plan and implement a local solution to climate change project. Teams are encouraged to create solutions that are both innovative and effective. Awards will be presented to teams who demonstrate the best teamwork, collaboration, and most comprehensive plans.

There are no fees to participate in Keep Connecticut Cool!

1. Schedule and Deadlines

a. 2009-2010 Registration and Entries

Registration for the 2009-2010 Keep Connecticut Cool! Challenge begins immediately and ends at 5:00 pm on February 5, 2010. Registration will be done on the Keep Connecticut Cool! web site at http://www.keepconnecticutcool.org/ . Mentors will receive an email confirmation that their teams' registrations have been approved within two weeks of submitting their registration form.

Team Action Plans for the 2009-2010 Keep Connecticut Cool! program must be submitted no later than the entry deadline of 5:00 PM Saturday, April 10, 2010. Entry forms and instructions will be available on the Keep Connecticut Cool! web site. Submission is by email to Laurel Kohl at KOHLL@easternct.edu Team mentors will be notified on receipt of their team's Action Plan.

Judging of entries will be done in May at a date and place to be announced. The statewide judging and awards event will be held in May between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm at a location to be determined. Team mentors will be notified of the date and location in February 2010.

b. Phase 1—2010 Solutions Plans

Teams who did not submit entries in the 2009 competition may submit solutions plans for Phase 1 Judging. Registered but not submitting teams, teams who wish to restart, and new teams are eligible to participate in Phase 1. If a team does not include students who participated in 2009, it is determined to be a Phase 1 team. Solutions plans and Greenhouse Gas Inventories must be completed and submitted no later than 5:00 pm on April 10, 2010. All teams who submit these reports will be eligible for judging. Details and a schedule for judging for Phase 1 will be posted on the Keep Connecticut Cool! Web site at a later date.

c. Phase 2 – 2010 Implementation Report (Cool Results Award)

All teams who submit an entry in the 2009 competition may submit an implementation report documenting the implementation of their plan and the results. Implementation reports must be completed and submitted no later than 5:00 pm on April 10, 2010. All teams who submit these reports will be eligible for the Cool Results Award. Details and a schedule for judging for Phase 2 will be posted on the Keep Connecticut Cool! Web site at a later date.

Team Makeup and Eligibility

In order to participate in the Keep Connecticut Cool! Challenge, applicants must be members of a team. A team may have from one (1) to fifteen (15) students. A team must have one adult mentor. All student members are expected to make significant contributions to the success of the team. Mentors will be expected to help with team formation and organization, provide guidance and encouragement, and help students with their collaboration by establish relationships with experts, local organizations, businesses, and/or government agencies to support their efforts. Other ways in which mentors may assist students include:

• Helping to obtain accurate data for the greenhouse gas inventory
• Helping the team set up and keep to a project schedule,
• Setting up interviews and meetings for the team,
• Reviewing and making suggestions on the team's solution plan, and entry forms.
• Completing and submitting the team registration.

Students, however, must conduct the greenhouse gas inventory, and create and lead the implementation of their solution plan. The mentor will be responsible for the timely completion and submission of the team's registration form. The mentor must have an active e-mail address for regular communication with the Keep Connecticut Cool! staff. All announcements and updates for Keep Connecticut Cool! Challenge teams will be sent via email to the teams' designated email address and will be posted on the Keep Connecticut Cool! Web site.

Individual Eligibility

A STUDENT is eligible to participate if he or she is a student in Grades 5 through 12 (or equivalent) on the registration deadline in:

• Any public, private or parochial school in Connecticut.
• Any home school in Connecticut that meets all requirements of the jurisdiction(s) having authority over the education of its student(s).
• Any youth organization in Connecticut.

Additionally:

A student may not be a member of more than one Keep Connecticut Cool! team during the 2010 program year.

A team may consist of students from the same and/or different grades and/or schools.

A MENTOR is eligible if he or she is:

• A teacher, librarian or other employee on the professional staff of a school attended by at least one of the student team members, or a teacher at a home school attended by at least one of the student team members, or

• A professional staff member or official volunteer of a non profit organization, such as a Boys or Girls club, community center, church youth group, museum or nature center, or similar organization, having among its purposes the education of students in grades 6 through 12, or
• A parent/guardian supporting student on the team.

AND IS

• Approved by the parent or guardian of each student on the team,
• Able to give regular help and coaching assistance to the student(s) he or she has agreed to mentor, and
• Over the age of 18 on the Registration deadline.

A person may mentor more than one team.

2. Divisions

Phase 1: Keep Connecticut Cool! Teams participating in their first year.

Phase 2: Keep Connecticut Cool! Teams participating in their second or any subsequent year.

3. Registration Process

Mentors and students may recruit team members, form a team, conduct climate science research, conduct a greenhouse gas inventory, develop a solution plan and begin the registration process at any time before the registration deadline. There is no required sequence for this process, but each team must complete before the registration deadline of February 5, 2010. The registration form must be submitted online using the Keep Connecticut Cool! Web site. Teams should register as early as possible to allow enough time to address any problems that could occur during registration.

The Registration process will require:

• Information on team members, mentors, and schools or other sponsoring organizations,
• The division in which the team is competing Phase 1 or Phase 2
• The coach's assurance to the Keep Connecticut Cool! Organizers that:

• She or he has either obtained a signed consent from the parent or guardian of each student member of the team (in accordance with the regulations or practices of the local school district), or has informed the parent or guardian of the student's participation in the Keep Connecticut Cool! Challenge and has received oral consent from the parent or guardian for the student's participation. (A sample parental permission form is available on Keep Connecticut Cool! Web site.)
• She or he, and the students and their parents or guardians, will abide, and be bound by the Keep Connecticut Cool! Rules.

4. Submitting the Entry

Phase 1: A completed entry consists of three items:

• A completed greenhouse gas inventory of the team members' school, home(s), community center or other entity.
• A local climate change solution plan and,
• Completed entry forms.

Phase 2: A completed entry consists of two items:

• A local climate change implementation plan and,
• Completed entry forms.

Forms, instructions and guidelines for the greenhouse gas inventory, solution plan, and entry forms will be available on the Keep Connecticut Cool! Web site. When the team has completed and submitted these entry items, its entry will be reviewed and scheduled for judging. Only teams that have submitted all items listed above will be judged.

6. Judging Criteria: The following criteria will be used to evaluate all entries.

For Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 Teams:

Judging Categories	Innovation	Teamwork	Collaboration	Greenhouse Gas Consequence	Presentation to the Judges
Possible Points For each category the scores will be:	Less than expected Meets Expectations Exceeds Expectations 0-3 points 4-6 points 7-10 points
Indication of “Meets Expectations”	Demonstrates unique solutions, methods or project(s)	Members of the team demonstrate working well together, sharing of tasks, use of individual strengths. Team shows that the efforts of the whole are worth more than the sum of the individual efforts.	Team demonstrates drawing on expertise, interest, and efforts of others outside the team. Team demonstrates greater accomplishments because of outside involvement and networking.	Project shows measurable greenhouse gas consequence of actions. Project demonstrates decrease in GHG (amount or effect) due to the team's work.	All team members participate in the presentation. Team is able to convey their project, actions and accomplishments. Team is able to answer appropriate questions from judges.

7. Judging and Awards

At the Judging in May 2010, the team members will face the judges for their Phase. At this time, only the student team members will be present. No mentors, parents or public will be in attendance. Team members will be given a set time of about 15 minutes to tell the judges about their team project and how it meets the judging criteria. Judges will be given 5 minutes to question the team. For the judging, the team may not use electronic media.

Judges will score and rank teams in each Phase and determine prize awards. Prizes will be announced in the final Awards Ceremony directly following the judging.

Phase 1 Awards:

· Teamwork Award $1000

· Collaborative Work Award (outside of the team) $1000

· Most Comprehensive Project Award $3000

Phase 2 Awards

· Teamwork Award $1000

· Collaborative Work Award (outside of the team) $1000

· Most Comprehensive Project Award $3000

Notes on Awards

Note 1. Awards may change and/or other awards may be added at the discretion of Keep Connecticut Cool! management. All changes will be announced on the Keep Connecticut Cool! Web site.

Note 2: The team award will be paid to the School or organization that sponsored the team. Distribution of the award will be determined by that organization and members of the team. It is suggested that award money be used to further the team projects.

Note 3. Monetary awards will be disbursed in the form of checks. Awards may be subject to federal and state income tax. It is the responsibility of the awardees to pay all applicable taxes.

8. General

Each team member must make significant contributions to the success of the team and be a full participant in the development of the entry.

Students are encouraged to seek guidance from parents, mentors, friends, technical experts and/or published materials. They will be encouraged to enlist other people or organizations to collaborate on the development and implementation of their solution plan. However, the inventory and the solution plan must be primarily the work of the student team, and the implementation of the plan must be led by the student(s). All contributions or participation by any person or organization (other than students in the team) must be clearly identified and described.

All materials in each entry must be suitable, in the opinion of the Judges, for use in schools.

9. Use of Copyrighted Materials

No entry may include the words, images or other materials that were created by another person unless there is an accurate citation to the quoted or reproduced material. If materials from other sources are used, written permission to quote or reproduce these materials must be obtained from the creator or owner of such intellectual property, and a copy of such permission shall be included with the entry materials. The word "material" as used in this section includes text, images, and data included in the entry.

Except, very short quotations from materials printed in newspapers, magazines, and books or on the Internet will be allowed if an accurate citation to the quoted material is included in the entry.

No entry may include any trademarked material(s) without the written permission from the owner(s) of the trademarked material(s).

10. Disqualification of Entries, Participants or Teams

Keep Connecticut Cool! management may decide to disqualify an entry if:

1. There has been no timely and proper submission of the registration, the entry (including all items required by the instructions for the entry on the Keep Connecticut Cool! Web site), or the implementation report.

2. There is a violation of any portion of the rules, or the required forms.

If a registration, entry or implementation report that is submitted on time contains an omission(s) or error(s) that violate(s) the conditions above in a relatively unimportant or non-substantive manner, Keep Connecticut Cool! management may, at its discretion, overlook it or send a message to the submitting team pointing out the violation(s) and giving the team a designated period of time to complete or correct its registration or entry.

If an entry contains materials that appear to violate any of these rules, Keep Connecticut Cool! management may, at its discretion, disqualify the entry in its entirety or remove the materials from the entry that appear to violate such rules or requirements.

11. Finality of Decisions

All Entries will be reviewed and evaluated by judges based on the Judging Criteria. Each decision of Keep Connecticut Cool! management and each decision of any of the Judges, with respect to any matter related to this program, shall, in all respects, be final and binding on the team member(s), his or her or their parents or guardian(s), the school(s) or organizations, and the mentor(s), and shall not be subject to review.

Keep Connecticut Cool! management reserves the right to conduct personal interviews with potential award winning students.

12. Changes

Extensions of Challenge Deadlines – Keep Connecticut Cool! management may extend any challenge deadline, and will post any such extension on the Keep Connecticut Cool! web pages.

Changes in Team Membership - If one or more members of a team should be unable to continue to participate for any reason, the team shall notify Keep Connecticut Cool! management at the earliest possible opportunity.

13. Ownership of Registration and Entry Materials

Materials submitted in the registration, entry, and implementation report will not be returned to the team. Keep Connecticut Cool! will have the right to make all or a portion of any entry or implementation report, as it initially is or as it may be modified, available for use by others, and/or to distribute it in any manner, for example, in print or digital marketing or promotional materials, on the Internet or on CD-ROM, etc.

14. Non-Discrimination Policy

Keep Connecticut Cool! does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin.

15. Responsible Party and Operator of Keep Connecticut Cool!

The Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University is the administrator of Keep Connecticut Cool! The Climate Change Challenge program. Keep Connecticut Cool! is funded by the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund.