15 local projects aim for Young Scientists glory

North Clare schools continue to punch above their weight in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, accounting for 15 of County Clare’s 18 qualifying entries this year.

 

Clare pupils will be competing at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2013, with 18 projects qualified from over 1,879 national entries.

BT announced that it has broken all previous records for entries received with the 2013 exhibition set to be the biggest ever.

Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna continues its dominance in the competition, with 12 projects going on show in January.

“We entered 15 projects altogether and 12 of them got in. We are very happy with that because it is very, very competitive, with more than 1,800 entries. One of the ones that didn’t get in this year, we are continuing working on that and hope to do something more with it this year,” said John Sims, teacher and co-ordinator of the projects at Mary Immaculate School.

According to Mr Sims, who has been mentoring pupils in the competition for 24 years, pupils are more interested than ever in taking part.

“Some of the pupils would have a competitive edge and they enjoy taking part. I know some of them did it before and they said they really enjoyed the experience. They learned more skills, such as writing reports and that kind of thing, as well as the researching and documentation of results. For some of them, this is their third or fourth time taking part.”

Pupils taking part in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition do so in their spare time.

“We have been working on some of the projects during the summer. We began meeting and planning at the end of July, beginning of August and had done some testing and some of the research before the start of the school year in September,” Mr Sims stated.

The Lisdoonvarna school traditionally sticks to projects relating to North Clare, touching on land and sea as well as the area’s wildlife and plant life.

“I really encourage the pupils to do something closer to home, something they have some knowledge of or some interest in. So because of that, all our projects are directly related to the North Clare area,” Mr Sims explained.

Topics tackled by Mary Immaculate’s pupils this year include factors affecting how slugs sense food; the feasibility of harvesting rainwater in North Clare; whether or not a predator affects the clumping behaviour of a specific type of mussel; the differences in the leaf of a type of geranium based on its geographic location; whether or not the sea affects turloughs in North Clare; whether or not urchins risk been eaten by predators to reach food; the quality of brown crab caught off the North Clare coast; computer and internet usage among adults in North Clare; the affects of geological substrates on the trophic-state of lakes in North Clare and, the occurrence and distribution of Ulva lactuca and Enteromorpha intestinalis in relation to water quality.

Other areas examined through the Lisdoonvarna pupils’ projects are factors influencing the sound quality of a mandolin and whether or not the size of population of an area affects the ability of GAA clubs to win trophies.

Scoil Mhuire, Ennistymon, will have five pupils exhibiting research at the exhibition in January. One group will present their investigation into the potential anti-inflammatory properties of North Clare seaweed extracts on intestinal inflammation, while the other will examine whether there is a correlation between the size of the shell of a species of saltwater clam and the holes that they bore in limestone rock.

CBS Ennistymon will have two pupils competing in the national competition looking into the mathematics of art.

A pupil from Ennis’s Rice College will show her work on the effects of environmental factors on wood decay at the national exhibition in January.

Ennis Community College will have two pupils exhibiting their research on the effects wearing different types of shoes have on young people’s feet. Two pupils from St John Bosco College in Kildysart have also qualified for the 2013 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition with their project on the curvature of hair.

According to organisers of the event, there has been a significant increase in the number of pupils developing commercially viable projects and demonstrating entrepreneurial flair in recent years. This year, entries in the technology category are at an all-time high, with a 24% increase in entries since the 2012 exhibition.

Overall, 362 schools will be represented with projects spanning the categories of biological and ecological sciences, chemical, physical and mathematical sciences, social and behavioural sciences and technology. 
Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, said, “Now in its 49th year, the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition continues to break new records for both the number of projects entered and schools competing. Research and innovation are critically important to our economy and I commend everyone involved in the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition for providing a platform to stimulate and showcase Ireland’s talent both on a national and international stage.”

The 2013 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition will take place in the RDS, Dublin, from January 9 to 12.