Progress in science is based on a mentoring model. Masters and Doctoral students are mentored by their supervisors. Nobel Laureates are mentored by other Nobel Laureates. We mentor our children. This is one of the important processes by which knowledge is passed from one generation to the next.

We put limits on this process, particularly for students in school or who are undergraduates. If one student mentors another in an exam, we call this “cheating” and impose penalties. The notion of learning in groups, and doing group activities has only recently reached the mainstream classroom.

Mentoring takes place on a continuum of levels. It can be as short as one or two phone calls or an exchange of emails at one end, to full access to the staff and facilities of a major research center.

Mentors may be scientists, teachers, parents or, sometimes, other students. When a mentor works with a student in any setting, he or she should always keep in mind that the project is the student's and not the mentor's. The mentor's job is threefold: to assist students in the gathering of background information, to teach students the techniques they will need to test their project's purpose or hypothesis, and to ensure the safety of all concerned throughout the project.

It is the student's role, and not the mentor's, to conceive the project's specific topic. All data taking must be the student's own, unless the student does not represent it as his or her own and credits the actual data taker properly. Similarly, analysis of the data is also exclusively the student's responsibility. When mentors usurp these responsibilities, they deprive students of valuable learning experiences. Boundary crossing of this kind also works to undermine the esteemed ethical values of science fairs in general. Mentors should instead seek to provide solid models for their students, scientifically and ethically.

Some feel that mentorship confers an unfair advantage on science fair projects. Judges must be sensitive to these concerns and ensure that judging focuses on students' scientific thought, understanding and creativity. Some projects involving the use of sophisticated or expensive equipment and exotic materials are scientifically simple and less creative than projects using more common materials. Judges can be unduly impressed by sophisticated equipment or materials and may need guidance to look beyond these to evaluate what science the student has actually done. A declaration of the mentor's role and specific assistance must accompany all mentored projects at the Canada-Wide Science Fair.

If you are not sure where to start in your quest for a mentor, try the SMARTS network.

Adapted from the ethics statement of the Massachusetts State Science Fair, 2005