International Virtual Science Symposium

IVSS: Badges

Reports submitted to the International Virtual Science Symposium are reviewed by a team of judges. After reviewing a project, IVSS judges evaluate each report by awarding the project either a one, two, three or four-star student research badge. Judges may also award optional, theme-specific badges to students if their reports meet the given criteria.

Reports that meet an established threshold — in most years, a four-star research badge and at least two optional badges — are eligible for a random drawing to receive a stipend or other award.

Below are the badges that were available for the most recent symposium, in 2023.
 

Badge for All IVSS Projects

I AM A STUDENT RESEARCHER

All students who submit a report to the IVSS receive an "I am a Student Researcher" badge. As such, students can earn up to four badges total.

Note: The "I am a Student Researcher" badge does not count towards the two badges needed for the Earth Day drawing at IVSS. In order to be entered into the drawing, you need to earn at least two of the "Optional Badges" listed below.

 

Highlight Badge for 2023 IVSS Theme

I AM A COLLABORATOR

All team members are listed including students from the same school or schools from around the world, along with clearly defined roles, how these roles support one another, and descriptions of each student's contribution. The descriptions clearly indicate the advantages of the collaboration. If the students collaborated with students from another school, describe how working with other schools improved the research. 

Other 2023 IVSS Badges

I MAKE AN IMPACT
The report clearly describes how a local issue led to the research questions or makes connections between local and global impacts. The students need to clearly describe or show how the research contributed to a positive impact on their community through making recommendations or taking action based on findings. 

I AM A STEM PROFESSIONAL

The report clearly describes collaboration with a STEM professional that enhanced the research methods, contributed to improved precision, and supported more sophisticated analyses and interpretations of results.  

I AM AN ENGINEER

The report uses student-generated sources of evidence to describe an engineering problem, looks at solutions through engineering, or optimizes a design to address a real-world problem, and describes the potential impact of the engineering principles on the environment.

I AM A DATA SCIENTIST

The report includes in-depth analysis of students' own data as well as other data sources. Students discuss limitations of these data, make inferences about past, present, or future events, or use data to answer questions or solve problems in the represented system. Consider data from other schools or data available from other databases. 

I AM A STEM STORYTELLER

The report describes or shows how the students shared the story of their research in a creative way. This could be via a dramatic interpretation, a blog, Instagram post, artist rendering, or any other way to creatively share what the students learned.