Success for pupils at SciFest

Politicians, business people and academics are all highlighting the importance of innovation as a way to drag the country out of the economic mire.
Ennistymon pupil Killian O’Dwyer is certainly playing his part in helping to come up with new ideas to boost the science and technology sector.
The Ennistymon CBS pupil’s work was acknowledged when he won an award at SciFest 2011 in the Innovation Open Lab in Intel Ireland, Leixlip, County Kildare recently.
The event, which featured a Celebration of Excellence in Science and Maths, was launched by Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Conor Lenihan.
Thirty-five second-level students were awarded Intel Excellence in Science medals in recognition of their achievement in SciFest 2010 at 14 Institutes of Technology and the Millennium Forum in Derry.
The Project Maths initiative introduced a new approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics that emphasised the understanding of mathematical concepts and the applications of mathematics.
Each of the 35 pupils had been either individual or group winners of the Best Project awards at SciFest 2010. 
The winners of the SciFest 2010 Mathematics in Science Award were also announced and trophies were presented to the three projects that the judges decided best illustrated the importance of mathematics in science.
Killian won an award for his project titled Investigation into the shortest distance between verticles in various 3-D solids.
Meanwhile, three students from Mary Immaculate Secondary School Lisdoonvarna were honoured at the SciFest 2010 Intel Best Project Awards.
Róisín Kelly, Sadhbh Burke and Katie Connole won the award for a project titled Rushes as an insulator.
Peter Brabazon, programme director, Discover Science and Engineering, said, “Today’s prizewinners reflect the future of Ireland’s workforce, as each project displayed a creative approach and provided a real-world application of the skills that the students have learned in the classroom.
“Their projects reflect the standard of science, technology, engineering and maths across the second-level system and passion of young people in these areas. Competitions like SciFest will help channel their passion into pursuing careers in the smart economy and it is fantastic to see companies like Intel working hand in hand with institutes of education across the country to achieve this.
“The Scifest competition is also a natural fit with our Discover Sensors project, which promotes inquiry-based science teaching and learning through the use of sensor technology. Discover Sensors present an award for projects which demonstrate a high level of application of investigative science methodologies using data-logging equipment at each host institute of technology.”
Scifest took place in 15 educational institutes across Ireland with 2,649 students from 200 schools exhibiting 1,097 projects.