Young scientists from the laboratories and classrooms of five Educate Together schools are making an impact at the 2015 RDS Primary Science Fair this week! The fair, which is part of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, aims to encourage and facilitate primary school aged children across the island of Ireland to develop a long term interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects.
THURSDAY
Midleton Educate Together NS: Why do we need to drink water?
Réidín McSweeney will accompany 20 6th class students to the Fair and says ‘Our research and experiments focused on how our bodies use water to keep cool. We discovered that the process of evaporation removes heat. We really enjoyed experimenting, recording our results and analysing them.We also made a life size model of the human body complete with organs-we are using this to highlight the various ways our bodies use water. We will travel to Dublin on Thursday and have a 5.30am start but we are really looking forward to it!
FRIDAY
Maynooth Educate Together NS: What is the easiest, cheapest, and ‘best’ way to make new paper from used paper?
Teacher Hilary Kellett says ‘The children discovered what things are made of paper, and why recycling paper is important. We discovered that recycled paper is far cheaper and better for the environment, and that it is comparatively easy to make. We discovered that people find no significant difference between commercially-made recycled paper from commercially made non-recycled paper. We hope, as our school is becoming a greener environment, that the majority will feel that schools should use whenever possible, recycled Irish made paper.
Le Chéile Educate Together N.S. What mixture makes the best rocket fuel?
Patricia Burke of Le Chéile ETNS in Drogheda will be bringing 27 students from Fifth Class – the school’s first time to be represented at the Science Fair. Patricia says, ‘Our goal was to examine the reaction effervescent tablets have in different liquids. Never in a million years would I have thought of doing this myself. As a teacher I have definitely found it worthwhile. Students have actively been using mathematical and scientific skills and it encourages co- operative and collaborative learning.’
SATURDAY
Bracken Educate Together NS Can body language help interpret the different languages; which children in our class speak natively at home?
Teacher Orla Farrell says ‘We as a class believe body language can help people understand different languages. When we take body language into account with language, we were interested to discover if we can understand a completely new language any easier with and without body language. Our hypothesis is that body language will enhance language understanding. From all our evidence we have a clearer picture of how body language impacts ones understanding of language.
Newbridge ETNS The five second rule: fact or fiction?
The Primary School Team of Newbridge ETNS told Educate Together ‘Our experiment is called ‘The 5 Second Rule – Fact or Fiction’. The class were wondering if the 5 second rule is true. Over the past few weeks we have been testing foods to check this myth out. First of all, we went around to several classes in our school dropping bread for 5 seconds and 10 seconds. We had a control to see what the bread should look like. We dropped cheese just like we dropped the bread. We are looking forward to the 10th of January, the day we will be going to the RDS and showing off our hard work. We are also excited to see all of the other experiments on the day.’
Science in Educate Together Schools
Primary school students representing 120 schools from across Ireland will display their projects at the fair. As usual, Educate Together schools punch above their weight – with young scientists from five Educate Together schools exhibiting. Although Educate Together pupils make up just 2% of the overall primary school population in Ireland, their work is regularly selected for inclusion. Educate Together Education Officer Fionnuala Ward said: "It's great to see children so enthusiastically and actively involved in their learning. Educate Together has always promoted the concepts of active learning and critical thinking and the pupils taking part in the RDS Primary Science Fair have very ably demonstrated how both can be applied in useful, practical and fun ways. I have no doubt that the young scientists we see here today will be at the forefront of scientific and technological innovations in the future!"
Students at Le Chéile ETNS investigating what mixture makes the best rocket fuel
