Toshiba ExploraVision: How the K-12 Team Competition Works

By Dr. Harman Brah, MD · Judge, California Science & Engineering Fair

Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision is a national K-12 science competition in which a team of 2 to 4 students, guided by a teacher or coach, imagines a technology 10 or more years in the future and writes it up as a research and development project. Teams compete in one of four grade categories, and the coach submits the entry by 8:00 PM ET on January 27, 2027.

It is one of the few science competitions where friends or siblings can enter together, starting as early as kindergarten. Here is how the pieces fit.

Who can enter

ExploraVision is open to full-time K-12 students in the U.S., Canada and U.S. territories, plus certain schools abroad.

Every entry is a team. There are no individual entries, and each team has 2 to 4 students.

Each student can be on only one project per year. A project that has already won a prize in another competition cannot be submitted.

The coach and the mentor

Every team needs a teacher or coach who is 21 or older. The coach can be a parent or guardian, which is how many family and neighborhood teams enter.

A team may also add an optional mentor. The coach is the one who submits the project, so the coach should know the deadline as well as the students do.

The four grade categories

Teams are placed by the grade of their oldest member:

• Grades K-3
• Grades 4-6
• Grades 7-9
• Grades 10-12

That rule matters for mixed-age teams. A 3rd grader working with a 5th-grade sibling competes in the 4-6 category.

What “future technology” means

The team picks a technology that exists today and imagines what it could become 10 or more years from now. The entry reads like a research and development plan for that future version.

Because the idea starts from something real, the science behind today’s version has to be right. Judges can tell when a team skipped the part where they learned how the current technology actually works.

A working prototype is not required. The work is in the thinking and the writing.

What a team submits

An entry has five parts:

• A title of no more than 50 characters
• An abstract of no more than 150 words
• A project description
• A bibliography
• A technology launch flyer

The abstract limit is tight. It helps to write it last, once the team knows exactly what its idea is.

Using AI

Teams may use AI to brainstorm and research. Any AI use has to be cited in the bibliography and has to follow the ExploraVision AI policy, so read that policy before the team starts.

The deadline

The coach submits the project by 8:00 PM ET on January 27, 2027.

Plan backward from that date. Winter break falls in the middle of the window, so a team that picks its technology in the fall has time to research, write and revise without a rush in January.

Prizes

ExploraVision names 24 regional winning teams. Regional winners then build a non-working model of their idea.

Eight of those teams become national finalists and get a trip to Washington, DC in June.

First-place national winners each choose one of three awards: a $10,000 Series EE Savings Bond at maturity, $5,000 in cash, or a $5,000 contribution to a 529 plan. Second-place winners each choose a $5,000 bond at maturity, $2,500 in cash, or a $2,500 529 contribution.

The students do the work

The question, the research and the writing belong to the students. The coach organizes the team and submits the entry, and a mentor can help students check whether the science holds up, but the ideas and the words should be theirs.

That is also what makes the project worth doing. A team that worked through how a technology functions today, and argued for where it could go, has learned something real whether or not it places.

What to do now

Form a team of 2 to 4 students and find a coach who is 21 or older. Check which grade category the oldest member puts you in.

Then choose one technology the team is curious about and start reading how it works today. Set an internal draft date well before January 27, 2027 so the coach has time to submit.

Our physician-led mentors help students build strong competition entries while the student does the work. See our science fair and research mentorship, or read our guide to middle school science fair and the path to CSEF.

FAQ

Can my child enter ExploraVision alone?

No. ExploraVision only accepts teams of 2 to 4 students, along with a teacher or coach who is 21 or older.

Can a parent be the ExploraVision coach?

Yes. The coach must be 21 or older and may be a parent or guardian. The coach is the person who submits the project.

Which category is my child’s team in if the kids are different ages?

The category is set by the oldest team member. The four categories are grades K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12.

Does the team have to build a working invention?

No. A working prototype is not required. The entry is a written plan for a technology 10 or more years in the future, and only regional winners go on to build a non-working model.

When is the ExploraVision 2027 deadline?

The coach must submit the project by 8:00 PM ET on January 27, 2027.