Coláiste Íosagáin hosted their annual SciFest@School competition earlier this month and it proved a big success once again.
Transition year students displayed with pride and enthusiasm the fruits of their scientific endeavours this term with 35 projects in total on display.
Guest judges Alan Dunne, SciFest School Liaison Officer, Judi Mills, NCCA Education Officer and Gavin Kelly, past pupil, and Chartered Physiotherapist, together with Ms. Bergin, formed the judging panel.
The school are extremely fortunate to have been supported by the NCCA over the last number of years in provision of guest judges for this event and it was wonderful to have Judis expertise on hand at the event.
They are equally fortunate to have many wonderful alumni in diverse STEM professions who are willing to contribute to the ongoing success of STEM in the school.
Gavin Kelly, a first-class honour master’s graduate in Physiotherapy, was a fantastic asset in terms of skills and knowledge as part of the judging panel.
Other STEM alumni namely Oisin O’Dea, Jana Joha, Anna Ridgeway, Kerensa Webb Dunn, Sarah Jane Walsh, Rebecca Carty and Eabha Fitzpatrick produced videos shown on the day which shared an insight into their chosen STEM education pathway and careers, serving both as motivation and inspiration to the TY students.
The standard of project on the day was terrific with Students commended for their excellent communication skills as well as their ability to incorporate the systematic process that is the scientific method.
Projects were diverse in nature with unique individual interests explored.
The students are a credit to their teachers Mr. O’Donnell, Ms. Delaney, Ms. Cleary, Mr. Brennan and Mr. McGlynn as well as Ms. Holloway, TY Co-ordinator.
Winners
SciFest Best Project Award went to the project titled “The 5 second rule” by Alex Burke and Max O’Reilly presented here by Ms. Holloway and pictured also with their science teacher Mr. O’ Donnell.
SciFest Runner-up Best Project Award presented by Alan Dunne, SciFest, went to the project titled “Does air pressure affect the performance of a ball?” by Rioch McEvoy, Sean Maree and Darragh Meredith.
Gavin Kelly presented the Mallinckrodt STEM Excellence Award to project titled “Reaction times of gamers compared to non-gamers” by Leo Hyland and Nathan Hayes.
Judi Mills, NCCA, presented two groups their prizes as SciFest award winners; “Pause, play, pulse – does gaming affect your heart rate?” by Ava Flanagan McDonnell, Rozalia Okowicka and Dara Bourke – “Do the dimples on a golf ball effect the distance the ball travels?” by Darragh Holland Whelan, Ryan Kiernan and Matthew Fossitt.
While the winners of the best display award were Tara Phelan, Robert Flynn and Amy Breen with prize presented by Ms. F. Cleary.
The winners of the Spirit of Coláiste Íosagáin award; “Science of sprinting – does the design of footwear effect a sprinters speed?” by Mairead Welling, Gearoid McCann and Kyle Ryan being presented their prize by Ms. M. Bergin.
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