Pre-Approval FAQ

Impor­tant notes:

  1. All projects involv­ing ven­omous plants / ani­mals require pre-approval
  1. Projects involv­ing soil sam­ples from known or sus­pect­ed con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed areas require pre-approval

The 4 Steps for Sub­mit­ting a Pro­pos­al for Pre-Approval:

1. Site Coor­di­na­tor enrolls school online

2. Stu­dent logs into online reg­is­tra­tion sys­tem (app.lascifair.org) and enters his/her information

3. Stu­dent receives pass­word via email

4. Stu­dent logs back into online reg­is­tra­tion sys­tem and enters proposal

Pre-Approval Overview

For more detailed answers, read our Research Rules and Reg­u­la­tions if the stu­dent project involves:

Pre-Approval FAQ

Do I need to get my project pre-approved if… 

I am ask­ing my friends ques­tions about some­thing they do (time on com­put­er, if they eat break­fast, their pref­er­ence of food/drinks, etc.)?

  • Yes, you need pre-approval. The SRC wants to make sure that you are keep­ing all your records con­fi­den­tial and not using names in your project.

If I am hav­ing friends/classmates take a test or quiz?

  • Yes, you need pre-approval. The SRC wants to make sure that you are keep­ing all your records con­fi­den­tial and not using names in your project.

If I am hav­ing peo­ple do exer­cise or per­form an activ­i­ty (jump­ing rope, play a video game, run a race, walk blind­fold­ed, etc.)?

  • Yes, you need pre-approval. The SRC wants to make sure that 1) par­tic­i­pants will not be injured as a result of your exper­i­ment and 2) you are keep­ing all your records con­fi­den­tial and not using names in your project. Some activ­i­ties can be stren­u­ous and may require the super­vi­sion of a physician.

If I am hav­ing peo­ple take medication/herbs or eat/drink substances?

  • Yes, you need pre-approval. The SRC wants to make sure that 1) par­tic­i­pants will not be injured as a result of your exper­i­ment and 2) you are keep­ing all your records con­fi­den­tial and not using names in your project. You need to con­sid­er food/herb/spice Cal­i­for­nia Ed. Code also pro­hibits many over the counter med­ica­tions being brought to school. A stu­dent may observe and col­lect data for analy­sis of med­ical pro­ce­dures and med­ica­tion admin­is­tra­tion only under the direct super­vi­sion of a qual­i­fied pro­fes­sion­al. Stu­dents are pro­hib­it­ed from admin­is­ter­ing med­ica­tions and per­form­ing med­ical pro­ce­dures on human sub­jects or ver­te­brate ani­mals. The only excep­tion is: If a stu­dent is work­ing with a vet­eri­nar­i­an search­ing for a cure for his/her per­son­al ani­mal. Strict vet­eri­nary super­vi­sion is required. The Los Ange­les Coun­ty Sci­ence and Engi­neer­ing SRC high­ly rec­om­mends refrain­ing from admin­is­ter­ing any med­ica­tions, pre­scrip­tions or over-the-counter, for the pur­pose of a sci­ence fair project.

I am work­ing with plant cells?

  • No

I am work­ing with ani­mal cells I got from meat I bought at the gro­cery store or meat butch­er shop?

  • If you buy meat, eggs, etc. from a gro­cery store or meat butch­er shop, you do not need pre-approval.

I am work­ing with ani­mal cells I got from a dead animal?

  • It is pro­hib­it­ed by the Cal­i­for­nia Ed. Code for a K‑12 stu­dent to be involved in the harm or death of a ver­te­brate ani­mal for the sake of exper­i­men­ta­tion. The excep­tion is acci­den­tal death dur­ing ani­mal hus­bandry (rais­ing ani­mals.) You may use cells for exper­i­men­ta­tion only if an ani­mal was euth­a­nized (put to death) by a qual­i­fied sci­en­tist for a pur­pose oth­er than your project. You will have to pro­vide detailed infor­ma­tion on how those cells were obtained and who sac­ri­ficed the animal.

I am work­ing with human or ani­mal hair?

  • If you cut the hair, it’s OK and no pre-approval is need­ed. If you pull the hair out and the fol­li­cle is attached, you will need pre-approval.

I am work­ing with my skin or cheek cells (or some­one else’s)?

  • The SRC wants to make sure that ster­ile equip­ment is used and there is no cross con­t­a­m­i­na­tion. If you use some­one else’s cells, you need to make sure that con­fi­den­tial­i­ty is maintained.

I am see­ing what kind of food my pet dog/cat/fish/bird/hamster etc. prefers?

  • The SRC and Cal­i­for­nia Ed Code require humane treat­ment of ver­te­brate ani­mals. You will need a vet­eri­nar­i­an to make sure that no harm comes to the ani­mal in your exper­i­ment and that that ani­mal is prop­er­ly cared for after the exper­i­ment (it can­not be killed, released into the wild, returned to a pet store, or giv­en to a shelter).

I am see­ing what kind of food/shelter/color wild birds in my yard prefer?

  • The SRC needs to make sure that the birds will not be harmed. An avian expert may need to super­vise the project to make sure that you are not caus­ing any harm to the birds.

I am train­ing my dog/fish/cat/bird/hamster, or oth­er ver­te­brate to run a maze or per­form anoth­er task?

  • The SRC and Cal­i­for­nia Ed Code require humane treat­ment of ver­te­brate ani­mals. You will need a vet­eri­nar­i­an to make sure that no harm comes to the ani­mal in your exper­i­ment and that that ani­mal is prop­er­ly cared for after the exper­i­ment (it can­not be killed, released into the wild, returned to a pet store, or giv­en to a shelter).

I am observ­ing the nat­ur­al behav­ior of a ver­te­brate ani­mal in the wild or in captivity?

  • If you are observ­ing what an ani­mal nat­u­ral­ly does and not chang­ing or manip­u­lat­ing any­thing, you do not need pre-approval. If you are chang­ing or manip­u­lat­ing any­thing, then you would need pre-approval. If there were any poten­tial dan­ger in being around an ani­mal, you would need pre-approval.

I am work­ing with a laser?

  • There are dif­fer­ent class­es of lasers. All Class I, II, III, and IV require pre-approval as they may cause eye and/or skin dam­age. Laser point­ers are Class I, II or III- you will need to deter­mine which class your laser falls into. (See Rules and Reg­u­la­tions on Haz­ardous Mate­ri­als on the LACSEF website.)

I am using a paint­ball gun?

  • This needs SRC approval (risk assess­ment) to make sure that you are safe dur­ing the exper­i­ment. You would need an adult expert to super­vise you as well. Some cities do not allow the use of sol­id or liq­uid pro­pel­lants in any shape or form.

I am using a BB gun, rifle or handgun?

  • PROHIBITED: Cal­i­for­nia Ed. Code pro­hibits stu­dents from using firearms. This type of project is not allowed in the LA Coun­ty Sci­ence and Engi­neer­ing Fair.

I want to do archery?

  • This needs SRC approval (risk assess­ment) to make sure that you are safe dur­ing the exper­i­ment. You would need an adult expert to super­vise you as well and wear stan­dard arm protection.

I want to burn dif­fer­ent types of wood?

  • DEPENDS:
    • YES: Burn­ing sol­id sub­stances out­side of school This needs SRC approval (risk assess­ment) to make sure that you and the envi­ron­ment are safe dur­ing the exper­i­ment. You will need to pro­vide infor­ma­tion on the safe­ty mea­sures you will be tak­ing. You should con­sult with your local fire depart­ment to see if there are any addi­tion­al reg­u­la­tions you need to com­ply with.
    • NEEDS NO APPROVAL: Burn­ing sol­id sub­stances (such with a calorime­ter) must be per­formed under a fume hood or out­side the class­room, on school grounds, with adult supervision.

I want to burn chem­i­cals / motor oil?

  • This needs SRC approval (risk assessment/hazardous mate­ri­als) to make sure that you and the envi­ron­ment are safe dur­ing the exper­i­ment. You will need to pro­vide infor­ma­tion on the safe­ty mea­sures you will be tak­ing. You should con­sult with your local fire depart­ment to see if there are any addi­tion­al reg­u­la­tions you need to com­ply with.

I want to burn candles?

  • No: Your pro­ce­dure should include an alu­minum drip pan to catch hot wax, safe­ty gog­gles and gloves.

I want to work with house­hold chemicals?

  • Depends on the chem­i­cals you are using. Most house­hold chem­i­cals, if used for their intend­ed pur­pose and accord­ing to the manufacturer’s instruc­tions, are safe to use (ex: vine­gar, bak­ing soda, bak­ing pow­der, Borax, laun­dry soap, dish soap) and do not need pre-approval. Some chem­i­cals like ammo­nia and bleach pose health risks and cer­tain pre­cau­tions would have to be tak­en and pre-approval would be nec­es­sary. Many clean­ing agents use ammo­nia, bleach, or oth­er caus­tic sub­stances and would need pre-approval. Check with your Site Coor­di­na­tor before using house­hold chemicals.

I want to work with chem­i­cals not found in my house?

  • Depends on the chem­i­cals you are using. You need to check a chemical’s Safe­ty Data Sheet (SDS), to see which chem­i­cals are allowed in school MS/HS lab­o­ra­to­ries and which are too haz­ardous to use except in an insti­tu­tion­al set­ting, under the super­vi­sion of a sci­en­tist. Also check the CA Sci­ence Safe­ty Hand­book for Incom­pat­i­ble Chem­i­cals in Appen­dix D.

I want to grow mold on bread or fruit?

  • DEPENDS (see below)
    • Mold is a microbe and requires pre-approval if you are grow­ing colonies on petri dish­es. The SRC needs to know that you are observ­ing prop­er cul­tur­ing and dis­pos­al techniques.
    • NEEDS NO APPROVAL IF you are study­ing the growth of mold on food items OUTSIDE THE HOUSE and if the exper­i­ment is end­ed at the first evi­dence of mold. Dis­pose of moldy food direct­ly into the out­side trashcan.

I want to test how well dif­fer­ent soaps kill bac­te­ria?

  • If you are cul­tur­ing bac­te­ria, you will need SRC approval as bac­te­ria is a microbe so the SRC knows that you are observ­ing prop­er cul­tur­ing and dis­pos­al techniques.

I want to swab dif­fer­ent sur­faces (like toi­lets, door han­dles, drink­ing foun­tains) to com­pare how much bac­te­ria is on each of them?

  • If you are cul­tur­ing bac­te­ria, you will need SRC approval as bac­te­ria is a microbe so the SRC knows that you are observ­ing prop­er cul­tur­ing and dis­pos­al techniques.

I want to col­lect sam­ples of ani­mal drop­pings and test for bac­te­ria?

  • If you are cul­tur­ing ANY sus­pect­ed bac­te­ria, you will need SRC approval since is a microbe. The SRC needs to know that you are observ­ing prop­er cul­tur­ing and dis­pos­al techniques.

I want to do an exper­i­ment with E. coli / Strep­to­coc­cus sp. / Staphy­lo­coc­cus sp. Bac­te­ria?

  • Escherichia coli (E. coli) bac­te­ria are microbes that are com­mon­ly used as pure cul­tures in sci­ence class­es and can be pur­chased in kits or alone through Sci­en­tif­ic Sup­ply com­pa­nies. Also com­mon­ly cul­tured in Advanced Place­ment class­es are bac­te­ria that car­ry a gene that is resis­tant to one par­tic­u­lar antibi­ot­ic (ampi­cillin, for exam­ple) that have also been “crip­pled” so the bac­te­ria can­not grow unless it has spe­cial food in its cul­ture medi­um. You will need pre-approval so the SRC knows that you are observ­ing prop­er safe­ty, cul­tur­ing and dis­pos­al techniques.

Strep­to­coc­cus and Staphy­lo­coc­cus bac­te­ria are haz­ardous, high­ly con­ta­gious microbes and should only be cul­tured in an insti­tu­tion­al set­ting under the direc­tion of a super­vis­ing bio­med­ical sci­en­tist. You will need pre-approval and sup­port­ing sig­na­tures from insti­tu­tions if you are work­ing with these types of bac­te­ria so the SRC knows that you are observ­ing prop­er safe­ty, cul­tur­ing and dis­pos­al techniques.

Prohibited: Laboratory studies utilizing MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), VRE (Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus) and bacteria with multiple antibiotic resistance

I want to do an exper­i­ment with a car battery?

  • Car bat­ter­ies are a wet cell bat­tery and con­sid­ered a haz­ardous mate­r­i­al. You will need pre-approval to the SRC knows that you are tak­ing prop­er safe­ty precautions.

I want to do an exper­i­ment with a rocket?

  • You may only use a ful­ly assem­bled rock­et motor, reload kit or pro­pel­lant mod­ules. You may NOT exper­i­ment with dif­fer­ent pro­pel­lants – the mod­ules must be sealed and come in a kit. You still need pre-approval so that the SRC knows that you are tak­ing prop­er safe­ty pre­cau­tions. You should also check with your local fire and/police depart­ments for oth­er reg­u­la­tions. Sug­ges­tion: try using water-pro­pelled or air pump pro­pelled rock­ets instead – they need no pre-approval!

I want to do an exper­i­ment with a car or Remote-con­trolled Car (RC)?

  • Gaso­line, motor oil, and mov­ing engine parts can all pose safe­ty con­cerns. You must get pre-approval from the SRC so that the SRC knows that you are being safe. If the RC car is bat­tery oper­at­ed, it does not require pre-approval.

I want to grow mold or cul­ture bac­te­ria in my kitchen or spare refrig­er­a­tor?

  • PROHIBITED! You may not do this project. There are spe­cif­ic reg­u­la­tions regard­ing how and where microbes can be cul­tured and your home is not an approved location.

I want to do an exper­i­ment with yeast?

  • Yeast is a microbe and also affects some peo­ple with aller­gies. You need SRC pre-approval to make sure that safe­ty pre­cau­tions are fol­lowed if you are cul­tur­ing (mak­ing large colonies) of the yeast. If you are bak­ing with yeast (not cul­tur­ing it), you do not need pre-approval.