Contest Criteria

The purpose of the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge is to:

• engage students in identifying and solving local environmental problems
• utilize their creativity
• involve their community 
• recommend how others could use this solution in their communities

Problems or issues that students choose should be local and of manageable size for middle school students to take on. It is not essential that the solution be carried out to full completion, but the process should be started and some results collected.

The Challenge is also aimed at promoting good use of science practice. Student teams should demonstrate that they have:

• researched background information to help define the problem or issue
• used the background information to develop the solution plan
• collected data as the plan is carried out
• used the data, both qualitative and quantitative, to analyze the results
• drawn a conclusion about the effectiveness of the solution based on data

It is understood that some solutions will take longer than others, but prior to submission of the application, enough data should be collected to indicate progress in making the change or addressing the issue.

The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge teams should consist of a teacher or other adult mentor and two, three or four students. The mentor can enter multiple teams into the Challenge, but each team should have its own unique solution and results, and may choose to work on different local environmental problems.