This school year has been quite eventful so far in The Science Department with plenty of project work and experiments done by the students of each cycle. In October we hosted a visit from a lecturer/researcher from Trinity College Dublin in association with SmartFutures.ie. The lecturer spoke about his work in the area of Physics and why students should take up a Science at Senior Cycle. He also mentioned the money involved in research and earning possibilities should students go into the field of Science at 3rd level. The students of Transition Year were eager to ask plenty of questions and got involved in the talk where asked.
September- December 2015
The students have been very busy from September onwards. From making yoghurt to viewing onion/cheek cells through microscopes in the lab. All students are also required to submit a portfolio of all their experimental reports at the end of the module in order to receive all their credits. This folder is also being used for the interviews being held at Christmas and Summer as it holds all the things they have achieved during the course of their studies. Students have also engaged in project work and presentations. E.g. Researching a well-known Scientist like Galileo, researching different genetic disorders and also researching different diseases caused by micro-organisms. This proved very successful and all students did this really well.
January 2016
On the 8th of January, the students and 2 teachers attended the BT Young Scientist Exhibition at the RDS. This was a whole day tour of all the Science and Maths related projects submitted by schools across the country. This tour provided the students with a true insight as to what ideas students can come up within relation to Science/Maths and how to research them thoroughly. Some of the projects of huge interest were “Washed and dried, but are they clean”. This project looked into different hand soaps and how effective they were at washing our hands. Students took great note of this as they didn’t realise that a traditional bar of soap is the most effective compared to hand washed now more popular. Students were also encouraged to have a look at some ideas for possible entries into Scifest for May.
Energy and Green Schools collaboration with Science.
On 27th January Austin held a detailed talk on Energy usage and management in the school. This provided the students with insight into how to do electricity and gas readings each week for the school and how to log it. This was started 29th January by John Maloney and James in the Maths group. He also showed us some typical bills that the school gets for gas and electricity. Energy surveys were also conducted for St. Josephs, top floor of the school and bottom floor in an attempt to monitor our energy usage by students Kara O’Reilly, Robert McCormack, Glen Byrne, Glenn Hooper, Lee Ayres and Dylan Maher. The students are currently typing up a document on “ways to save energy” for each floor in the school. Another Energy workshop has also been requested by Ms. Keary from The SEAI to help us to do this even more effectively in our school.
All in all, the students have been working extremely hard, well done guys!!!
