Young Scientist Exhibition
YOUTH AND science obviously provide a dynamic mix given the level of enthusiasm apparent at the Health and Safety Authority-supported Primary Science Fair. The fair is an exhibition within an exhibition, taking place at the RDS alongside the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.
The fair includes about 100 primary-pupil science projects presented from yesterday through to Saturday. The infectious enthusiasm of the exhibitors is only matched by the variety of the projects which yesterday included environmental awareness, controlling floods, recycling and even a study of how to build the best home-made parachute.
Kiera Kyne (11), Alicia McHale (10), Mollie Farrell (10), Pauline Hughes (12) and Daniel Monaghan (12) joined forces to design the parachute. All are pupils at Ballycushion School, Kilmaine, Co Mayo, and they conducted a battery of experiments using straws, pipe cleaners and J-cloths to build various models. They found that J-cloths and straws gave the best result, while kite string and a plastic bag for grapes gave the worst.
The HSA gives three “merit” awards complete with trophy on each day of the fair and Rathdown Junior School in Dublin and Stokane NS in Enniscrone, Co Sligo, claimed two. The third went to Bishop O’Brien NS in Bartlemy, near Fermoy, Co Cork.
Lauren Friel, Patricia O’Sullivan, Katie Connor, Roisin O’Mahoney and Cian Doyle, all 12-year-old sixth-class pupils from Bishop O’Brien’s, assembled an impressive two-metre-long, expanded foam model of the Blackwater, a river notorious for flooding.
It was a fully working, fully decorated model with river water coursing down the riverbed and – on demand – causing flooding down river. They showed how piping could potentially be used to drain away flood waters should the river rise too high. They suggested that the excess water could be channelled to a reservoir or used to generate electricity.
Four fifth-class pupils from Maynooth Boys NS built models and demonstrated the benefits of solar and wind energy. Jack Dempsey, Niall Duddy, Matthew Sutton and Aron O’Brien, all 11-year-olds, used a volt meter to prove their model devices worked. They also showed themselves as very proficient in wiring up the hardware to produce their alternative energy.
Lacken NS in Blessington, Co Wicklow, was represented, with sixth-class pupils Amy Clarke, Niamh Atkinson, Isobel Kearns and Saoirse Stack delivering a project showing how recycling and composting could be used to control waste.
They put literally everything into the pot, bread, peelings, waste food and greens to produce different compost mixes, which they then graded on how quickly they decomposed. They also made recycled paper and devised a game, Cleanopoly, to promote the recycling message.
Star of the Sea Boys NS in Sandymount, Dublin, were represented yesterday afternoon by Keith Fogarty, Hugh Mohan, Neil Carton and Kevin McDonnell, but the entire 40-strong sixth class contributed to the project, “Greenhouse Growth”. They built a mini greenhouse and used it to grow grass seeds, measuring temperatures inside and outside in the process.
They studied different growing mediums including compost and soil taken from home and the school itself, with the latter giving the best results.
They also looked at photosynthesis, phototropism – the tendency of plants to grow towards the sun – devised a photosynthesis electronic quiz, and even conducted tests on insulation materials from waste.
Glenageary/Killiney NS offered another joint effort by its sixth class entitled “The Young Flyingtist”. Eleanor Watchorn, Nicola Gordon, Mollie O’Sullivan, Gemma Bewley, Sara Russell Shiels, Alesha Myers and Alex Waller were on the stand yesterday afternoon.
They presented their class’s studies of Bernoulli’s Principle (how kites, aircraft and balloons are able to fly) and demonstrated the science with homemade “rotocopters”. These finned balloons were sent flying on a draft of air provided by a hair dryer.