2,000 second-level school students will compete in SciFest 2010 over the next month at regional events, taking place in fourteen Institutes of Technology across Ireland.
The first event of the nationwide competition took place today in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) Kevin Street.
SciFest is a national festival of science organised regionally in collaboration with the Institutes of Technology and is open to all second level students.
Pictured at the first event of the Scifest national science competition in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) Kevin Street is (l-r) Griffin Gillanders (13) Alison Rudden (12)and Rachel Claffey (13), 1st year students from Alexandra College, Milltown, Co.Dublin with their Scifest project ‘The Studies of Gloop’
SciFest was created to provide an additional forum for students to present and display the results of their scientific investigations, following the success of the BT Young Scientist and Technology exhibition which has been running very successfully for over forty years.
The SciFest initiative is jointly funded by Intel and Discover Science and Engineering as project partners.
SciFest has the additional advantage that it is locally based which makes it more accessible to students and allows them to view the facilities and courses available in their local Institute of Technology. Following DIT the SciFest 2010 fairs in the other Institutes of Technology will be held on the following dates: Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (20 April), Waterford Institute of Technology (20 April), Athlone Institute of Technology (23 April), Cork Institute of Technology (27 April), Limerick Institute of Technology (27 April), IT Carlow (5 May), Dundalk Institute of Technology (5 May), IT Sligo (6 May), Institute of Technology, Tallaght (7 May), TI (11 May), Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (12 May), IT Tralee (12 May), Letterkenny Institute of Technology (14 May), and the Millennium Forum, Derry (21 May).
Some of the projects on display today at DIT Kevin Street include:
- A study on whether gaming affects your personality by students from Loreto College, St Stephens Green;
- A project examining whether texting makes students’ spelling worse by students from Gael Choláiste Reachrann;
- Students from Alexandra College investigate if weather affects a person’s mood;
- A project examining whether wind energy can charge a phone battery, by students from St. Joseph’s Secondary School;
- An investigation by students from Ard Scoil Rís into how to improve the safety and comfort standards of the present day Micro Hurling Helmet.
Commenting at the event, Sheila Porter, SciFest National Coordinator, said, “SciFest continues to go from strength to strength with a record number of entries this year. The rapid increase in participation in the competition is a clear indication of the interest and enthusiasm among students and teachers in the investigative approach to teaching and learning science. I would like to thank all of our partners including Intel, Discover Science and Engineering, BT, Dairymaster, Abbott Ireland and all the Institutes of Technology. Without their support, none of this would be possible.”
Also commenting at the event, Peter Brabazon, Programme Director, Discover Science and Engineering, said, “It is exciting to see the creativity and enthusiasm for science among Irish second-level students at SciFest 2010. The competition epitomises the skills we seek to instil in students across the country in terms of collaborative learning and critical thinking. It is also an effective model linking education and industry, with the participation of all the Institutes of Technology and the support of Intel and other sponsors.”
As part of each SciFest ceremony taking place in the Institutes of Technology there will also be an additional Discover Sensors award.
This is given to a student science project which demonstrates a high level of application of investigative science methodologies that include the innovative use of one or more digital sensors for recording of experimental data. Each project entering the Discover Sensors Award must keep a blog of their SciFest project on Project Blogger
The inaugural SciFest was held in the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, Dublin, in 2006 and SciFest was launched nationwide in September 2007.
Nine of the Institutes of Technology hosted SciFest fairs in 2008 and in 2009 all fourteen institutes hosted a SciFest fair, reflecting the commitment of the Institutes of Technology to the support and promotion of science education.
Also in 2009 the first SciFest exhibition in Northern Ireland was held in the Millennium Forum in Derry. In total 1,980 students from 162 schools exhibited 836 projects nationwide in SciFest 2009. This represented an increase of almost 25% in the number of students participating compared with the previous year.
Please visit www.scifest.ie for further information.
