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Tag Archives: science

The sky is the limit for Kilrush students

The sky was certainly the limit for students from Kilrush Community School when teams of transition year students from across Clare and Limerick designed, built and launched mini-satellites made in the shape of soft drink cans at the Regional final of CEIA and ESERO Ireland CanSat final held in Limerick Institute of Technology. Kilrush Community School were announced as the overall winning team at the 2017 CanSat Regional Final and will now go on to represent Ireland at the national final which takes place in Portlaoise on April 27 and 28. A CanSat is a simulation of a real satellite in the size and shape volume of a soft drink can and is a European Space Agency initiative designed to inspire young people to pursue a career in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, with the ultimate goal of ensuring the availability of a highly qualified workforce in the space industry of the future. Speaking at the event …

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Back to RDS for science entrepreneurs

The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) has announced the BTYSTE Alumni Showcase, a new feature for 2017, which will see previous participants compete for the chance to exhibit their commercial ventures at the RDS in January. The competition is open to alumni of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition or BT Young Scientist Business Bootcamp who qualified for the exhibition itself and went on to incorporate a company based on their BTYSTE project. The goal of the competition is to shine a light on the myriad of successful commercial enterprises born at the Exhibition since its beginnings in 1965, including BTYSTE-born companies like FenuHealth, Restored Hearing, betterexaminations.ie and The Duffily Bag. Applicants from across the island of Ireland are invited to log on to www.btyoungscientist.com/alumni and tell BT about their company, its impact, and why they deserve the opportunity to exhibit. Nine companies (three per day) will be selected to exhibit alongside 50+ leading private and public …

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Making the SMART choice in college

SMART Futures champion and star of Dragons’ Den, Barry O’Sullivan is encouraging Leaving Certificate students to consider careers in science and technology. He is bringing this idea to the fore in advance of the July 1 CAO change of mind deadline. CEO of Altocloud, Mr O’Sullivan is also encouraging leading tech companies in Ireland to get involved with Smart Futures to inspire young people and break down any stereotypical perceptions they may have about careers in science, engineering or technology. According to research with over 2,000 Irish third-level students, conducted by Amárach Research as part of Science Foundation Ireland’s Smart Futures programme, students’ main concern when making their CAO choice is whether they will “fit in”, ranking it higher than other factors like career prospects. The Smart Futures programme, which is managed by SFI Discover and coordinated in partnership with Engineers Ireland, provides a coordinated platform for science and technology companies to reach out to young people and their parents …

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LIT hosts SciFest Fair

Mid-West post-primary school students will be showing off their scientific knowledge at the regional SciFest fair, which will be taking place at LIT on Wednesday next at the LIT Moylish campus. SciFest is an all-inclusive, all-island science competition where second-level students showcase science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) projects at a series of one day science fairs held regionally in the 14 Institutes of Technology, and St Mary’s College, Derry. Ten major awards, including the SFI Discover Best Project Award, the Intel Award and the Boston Scientific Medical Devices Award are available at each of the 15 venues. Winners from each regional science fair go on to compete at a national final, which will take place this year in the Marino Conference Centre, Dublin on November 6. Awards presented at the national final include opportunities to represent Ireland at two international science fairs; the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona and the International Environment and …

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Primary schools delve into science

Clare Education Centre held its annual science fair for primary schools in the Auburn Lodge Hotel this week. In excess of 420 pupils participated from schools across the county. The evening was the culmination of a series of evening workshops delivered in Clare Education Centre by primary science expert, Michael Browne. Michael, a Crusheen native, is the author of a range of science books for the primary school curriculum and has worked closely with Clare Education Centre for a number of years. The teachers from the participating schools attended five evening workshops during the term, in preparation for the science fair. Schools looked at all aspects of the curriculum and devised suitable experiments to demonstrate various concepts. The emphasis was very much on the practical and ‘learning by doing’. At the science fair, pupils demonstrated their knowledge and understanding of the subject to their parents, teachers and all who attended. Director of Clare Education Centre, Pat Hanrahan, acknowledged all the …

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Clare students plumb for science and technology

A total of  83% of secondary school students in Clare believe that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects offer the best career opportunity, according to a new national survey. In addition, the survey, which was commissioned by BT as organiser of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, revealed that over 83% of secondary school students in Clare plan to study a STEM subject at third level. Conducted through Facebook and Twitter, and completed by over 1,000 students aged under 13 – 18 the survey took in a nationally representative sample across 26 counties. The survey also revealed 72% of students in Clare say that STEM subjects are promoted in their schools, with 65% of respondents believing that boys and girls are encouraged equally to study STEM subjects. Those surveyed  have mixed views when it comes to their potential earnings. When asked how much money they expect to earn in their first year of full-time employment, in keeping with the …

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Local link to dinosaur discovery

A PALAEONTOLOGIST who lived and worked in North Clare is among a team of scientists whose research, published this week, suggests that all dinosaurs had feathers. The evidence presented by Dr Maria McNamara and her colleagues changes the previously-accepted hypothesis that only one group of dinosaurs had feathers. Dr McNamara is a palaeontologist in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at University College Cork. From Clonmel, she previously lived in Moymore and was employed as a geologist in the Burren Geopark, where she worked with about 20 primary schools, the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre and the Burren Outdoor Education Centre. Dr McNamara was approached over a year ago, while working in the University of Bristol, with dinosaur fossil specimens from a site in Siberia. She has been key to discovering the first-ever example of a primitive plant-eating dinosaur with feathers and scales. Previously, only advanced flesh-eating dinosaurs were known to have had feathers, so this new find …

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Watching spring unfold in Clare

CLARE primary schools have been asked to help track the arrival of spring by getting involved in Greenwave 2014. This citizen science project, which sees students log their sightings of six Greenwave species by uploading images to the greenwave.ie website, is one of the five criteria necessary to achieve a Discover Primary Science and Maths (DPSM) Award of Science and Maths Excellence. It is part of the Science Foundation Ireland’s Discover Programme. Between the months of February and May, students are asked to capture their sightings of six species: frog, swallow, horse-chestnut, primrose, hawthorn and ash, in addition to making at least one weather observation by measuring and recording wind speed, rainfall or temperature. The results are then logged on the Greenwave website in order to monitor and map the arrival of spring. Now entering its 8th year, Greenwave continues to grow in popularity amongst students, teachers and parents alike. Last year 554 Irish primary schools, including 23 Clare schools, took …

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