New Jersey Chemistry Olympics - 2009

Event 4: Web Page Design: 

The Chemistry of Bread

This event is limited to the first 18 entries

Objective

You are to design and develop a website dealing with the Chemistry of Bread. The intent of the site should be to inform and educate the general public, who has little or no scientific background about the chemistry of the most everyday and familiar of foods on which hundreds of generations have leaned for sustenance. Types of information that the site may include (but is not limited to) are: what are the main ingredients of different types of bread including their chemical and physical properties and their role in the bread properties and texture; what chemical/ biological reactions and/or physical changes take place when these ingredients are mixed to form the dough; what chemical/biological  reactions and/or physical changes take place during baking of the bread that give its structure and generate flavor; what chemical/biological reactions and/or physical changes are taking place when staling takes place in the days following baking; how would you differentiate between home made and mass-produced  breads.

The web site should include:

• include information on the chemistry of this subject and relevant hyperlinks

• include interrelations with other fields (e.g.  engineering, biology, environment, degradation, biodegradation, recycling, regulatory agencies, etc.)

• include citations for all sources of information (written, digital, people)

• include any other information you deem relevant

• be attractive and easy-to-use

• be original with unique style content

 The web site should be developed using current standard HTML coding. No plug-ins should be assumed or required for viewing of the web site. Competitors should keep in mind that this is primarily a chemistry competition and should focus their primary efforts on the content of their website. Please be aware that external links (to other web sites) may be included, however they will not be accessible on the day of the competition since you will be presenting your website off of your CD (ie: you will not be connected to the Internet). External links that are included (as they should be) will be evaluated by judges during the first phase of judging, prior to the day of your presentation.

All teams must submit:

• 4 identical labeled CD’s containing their website, (submitted in separate labeled sleeves, NOT jewel cases)

• the URL at which their website is publicly accessible  

• each CD must be labeled with the school name, authors & URL

by the deadline as outlined in the Competition Guidelines. The website on the CD’s and the publicly-accessible website must be identical. No changes of any type are allowed to either between the time of submission and the day of the competition. The judges will examine both the CD website and the URL website in the judging. Approximately two weeks before the day of the competition, all of the URL’s for all competing teams will be made available on the NJCO website. Thus competitors will be able to view each other’s websites.

Judging:

There will be two phases to the judging. The first phase occurs after receipt of the submitted CD’s and URL’s. The judges will examine the websites and evaluate them as to:

• Web Site Design (30% of total score)

  • site functionality (all pages load, links work, easy-to-navigate) 10%

  • site appearance (pages are visually appealing) 10%

  • site originality (uniqueness of style and content) 10%

• Chemistry Content (50% of total score)

  • relevance to chemistry (site content related to chemistry) 10%

  • accuracy (of chemical information presented) 10%

  • usefulness (of chemical information presented) 10%

  • amount of chemical information 10%

  • all information is properly cited and from credible sources 10%

 The second phase of judging occurs on the day of the competition. Each team will make a short 4-minute summary presentation of their website. This presentation will be made using the CD submitted earlier. There will be no live internet access for the presentation - teams should plan their presentations accordingly. The audience will include both the judges and their fellow competitors. After this, there will be a brief question-and-answer period during which time the judges will pose questions about the website. Questions will deal with both the web page design and the chemistry content of the site. All team members will be expected to have at least some knowledge of both aspects. This phase will be evaluated as follows:

•  Presentation (20% of total score)

  • effective summary of site (brief, highlights important aspects) 10%

  • questions and answers (demonstrate knowledge of topics) 10%

 The publicly-accessible URL and the three CD’s must be received by the deadline - there will be no extensions. The content of the sites must be identical. No changes to either are permitted after submission. The URL must remain active and publicly accessible throughout the time period from the date of submission until the day of the competition. All material on the website must be original or properly cited. Violation of any of these provisions are grounds for disqualification.

Team Identification

Each submission (research reports, web CDs, lab reports, etc) must include the following 4 items:

• name of school

• team A or B, designation, if applicable

• names of students (clearly printed legibly)

• name of coach

Event designed by Marino Xanthos, NJIT & Art Hendela, Hendela Associates

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Last Updated January 04, 2009