Ethical Guidelines 

​Good STEM is safe and ethical!
Your safety is important. When working on your idea, it is important to always put safety first. It is your responsibility to take steps to keep yourself and others safe.

Ethics deal with social agreements on right and wrong. In the STEM community, there are rules on how to work in an ethical, or right, way. In general, your project should never cause harm people or animals. It is your responsibility to make sure you are doing ethical STEM when working on your idea.

Youth Science Canada has policies governing the use of human participants, animals (vertebrate and invertebrate) and animal parts in research by young scientists (elementary and secondary school students). The new Youth Science Canada website has a great section on Safety and Ethics! They have most of the materials we use to have on our original website.
Prior to experimentation or research, you may seek prior approval on your project design by completing the request_for_ethics_ruling_ekrsf and email it to east.kootenay@youthscience.ca

Use of Human Subjects: A general filter if your project involves humans

Participation of Humans in Research – Low Risk​

All human participants in scientific research must give Informed Consent, which comprises consent, confidentiality and the right to withdraw. Class surveys of attitudes, beliefs or skill tests, such as “Do my classmates remember better if they read while listening to jazz or hip hop?” may be termed Low Risk.
For Low Risk projects, completion of the simple 4.1a_humans_low_risk (PDF) is required. Approval by the student’s adult supervisor (such as a parent or teacher) is usually sufficient to ensure that the appropriate ethical issues have been addressed. However, be aware that not adults’ self-esteem would therefore be classified as a Significant Risk.
​letter_of_information (MS Word document)
​record__of_informed_consent(MS Word document)​

​Participation of Humans in Research – Significant Risk

The Participation of Humans in Research – Significant Risk policy establishes what constitutes a drug and specifies that drugs and invasive procedures may only be used in a science project experiment under the direction of a qualified Scientific Supervisor.
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Effective October 2010, sensory food projects (i.e., those designed only to assess the sensory characteristics of a food or drink), within certain restrictions (e.g., not involving “energy drinks”), are the only ingestion projects considered to be low-risk. Significant risk ingestion projects are only allowed at the CWSF if carried out under professional supervision at a laboratory with its own internal Ethics Review Committee, such as a university or hospital laboratory. Projects in which human participants, including the student researcher, are required to consume a substance or apply a substance to the skin must be carefully reviewed for compliance with the indicated Humans in Research policies before any testing begins.
All projects involving human participants in ways other than surveys and skill tests are considered Significant Risks. For Significant Risk projects, the more detailed 4.1b_humans_significant_risk(PDF)  must be completed, and the indicated approval procedures must be followed.

Use of Animals (Vertebrate and Invertebrate): A general filter if your project involves animals

4.1c_using animals approval is used to ensure that the appropriate review of projects involving animals has taken place.
All experimental care and use of animals in Canada is subject to the requirements of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), a national, peer-review organization founded in Ottawa in 1968. CCAC documentation states: “Youth Science Canada, amongst its responsibilities, regulates animal experimentation in science fairs.”Research using vertebrate animals for science fair projects may only be carried out in one of five ways:

  • Observations

  • Behavioural studies with positive rewards, without any stress involved

  • Any project carried out in a university, medical or industrial laboratory and approved by the appropriate Scientific Review Board

  • Experiments on embryos – These experiments are subject to the same rules that apply to the animal producing the embryos. Studies of mammalian embryos are restricted to observation without intervention with drugs or other chemicals.

  • Research involving cephalopods (cuttlefish, nautilus, octopus, squid, etc.) must follow the same rules as for vertebrates above. Research on all other invertebrate animals is presently unrestricted, except that the project must have some scientific or educational merit and be judged to be ethical.

Drugs may only be used in a science project experiment under the direction of a qualified Scientific Supervisor.