Volume 9, Number 4, May 2018
SciFest Ezine
SciFest Where Creativity meets Innovation
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
SciFest Student Wins Top Award at Intel ISEF 2018 Aaron Hannon from St Muredach's College, Co Mayo (currently studying Engineering at Trinity College, Dublin) was awarded a First Place in Embedded Systems at Intel ISEF 2018 which was held in the D H Lawrence Convention Centre in Pittsburgh, May 13-18.
SciFest and Intel ISEF……...............2 A Guide to Organising a SciFest@School................ ……….…..3 Smart Futures - Link ……….………...3 ‘At SciFest, We Felt Like Scientists’
Aaron's project was inspired by his late grandfather who suffered a stroke
By Janet Williams Oshun, TY, St Mary’s College,
in 2003. As a result of the stroke Aaron's grandfather was unable to
Arklow
shave himself without help. Aaron wanted to help his grandfather and set about designing a shaving device for people with limited hand dexterity.
SciFest 2018 National Final……..……5
………………………………………...4
SciFest 2018 Special Moments..…....5
The device Aaron designed and built automatically shaves the user’s face, which removes the need for users to have the hand control required for shaving. The device can be controlled by voice commands from a mobile
Dates for Your Diary…………..……….6
phone app, which connects to the device via Bluetooth, allowing the user
Contact Us……………………….………...6
to have complete control over their shaving routine without outside assistance. The device sits on the user’s head like a pair of headphones and
Thank You ………………………………….6
has a visor which carries the razor up and down around the user’s face. Congratulations to Aaron on his success at Intel ISEF 2018. Congratulations also to his teacher Kevin Boyle who is now teaching in Rosses Community School, Dungloe, Co. Donegal.
Be a Part of the Biggest STEM Fair Programme in Ireland
‘“This was a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and to learn, and I am so thankful to my family, friends, teachers and everyone at SciFest who have supported me up to now.” Aaron Hannon SciFest@Intel ISEF 2018 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
SciFest and Intel ISEF SciFest students have won 9 major awards in the 7 years in which they have been competing in Intel ISEF Intel ISEF 2012
Eoghan Flynn and Ruairi O’Neill, Blackwater Community College, Lismore, Co Waterford
Second Place in Environmental Management
2014
Paul Clarke, St. Paul’s College, Raheny, Dublin
Award from the American Mathematical Society (AMS)
2014
Conor Foy, Coláiste Chiaráin, Croom, Co. Limerick
Fourth Place in Engineering: Electrical and Mechanical Award from Experimental Mechanics, Inc (SEM)
2015
Christopher Carragher, Our Lady’s Secondary School, Castleblaney, Co. Monaghan
Second Place in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics and an asteroid named after him
2016
Louis Madden, Largy College, Clones, Co. Monaghan
Bruno Kessler Foundation Award Monsanto Award for Innovation in Plant Sciences
2017
Caolann Brady, St Wolstan’s Community School, Clane, Co. Kildare
Second Place in Biomedical and Health Sciences and an asteroid named after her
2018
Aaron Hannon, St Muredach's College, Co Mayo
First Place in Embedded Systems and an asteroid named after him
Intel ISEF 2018
Aaron Hannon (SciFest), Niamh Anne Kelly (Sentinus NI) and
Sheila Porter (SciFest) with Aaron Hannon and his teacher
Fionn Ferreira (BTYSTE) representing Ireland at Intel ISEF 2018
Kevin Boyle at Intel ISEF 2018
2
Planning a SciFest@School for Next Year? A step by step guide to organising an in-house SciFest@School STEM fair SciFest provides support for a SciFest@School STEM fair in the form of certificates for participating students, a number of awards, ‘freebies’ to hand out on the day, and a SciFest@School teacher’s support pack. A member of the SciFest team visits the school on the day to help with the organisation and the judging. The steps below are designed to guide you through the process of running a successful STEM fair in your school. If you would like to discuss any aspect of the organisation of a STEM fair, please contact SciFest through the website – Link . 1. Decide on a date and register with SciFest. – Click here to download a registration form. Note. SciFest@School STEM fairs can be held at any time during the school year. However, you should hold your fair before 8 March if you wish to select projects to go forward to SciFest@College 2019. The closing date for entries to SciFest@College 2019 is Friday 8 March except in the case of SciFest@NorthWest in St Mary's College, Derry, where the entry date is Friday 17 May. 2. Start small. If you are running a STEM fair for the first time confine the participants to a single year group. A SciFest@School is particularly suited to TY students who if preparing and presenting a project at a SciFest STEM fair can use their participation as their ‘Personal Skill’ element of their Gaisce Award. TY students involved in organising SciFest events can use their activities to meet the ‘Community Involvement’ element of the award. First or second years are usually very enthusiastic and enjoy being involved in something different. 3. Don’t do it all by yourself. Approach another science teacher for help. Better still involve the whole science department. 4. Draw up a plan and decide: When – Check the school calendar for a suitable date. Suggestions: During the mock exams – a lab might be free / Open-day / Science Week / Before a parent-teacher meeting or TY night – leave the projects on show / Before the entry date to SciFest@College Where – Calculate the number of projects and decide on the most suitable venue. Somewhere you can leave them up for a couple of days is ideal. 5. Let the principal know what you intend to do. Have a workable plan prepared before you approach the principal. 6. Make sure your colleagues in other departments know about the fair in plenty of time. Students thrive on praise. Invite other teachers to bring their classes to view the projects. 7. Invite some guest judges (retired teachers, parents, representatives from local industry). Invite pupils from the local primary schools. Maybe include a primary school exhibition. 8. Use the judging rubrics provided in the SciFest STEM fairs toolkit. Have a few small prizes and award every student a certificate (available from SciFest). Present the awards and certificates at the end of the day or at an assembly the following day. 9. Complete the STEM experience with a
www.scifest.ie
Smart Futures careers talk for the SciFest @School
students - Link 10. Have a meeting afterwards to discuss how things went. St Mary’s Holy Faith, Killester
3
‘At SciFest, we felt like scientists’ By Janet Williams Oshun, TY, St Mary’s College, Arklow, May 2018
Having participated in SciFest@College 2018 in Waterford
Certificate subjects. If the opportunity arose I would
Institute of Technology our experience of it was very good
definitely participate in SciFest again.
and extremely positive. The venue was excellent and very
That being said, all of us had our own crazy journeys to
well run. The judges were very enthusiastic, understanding
produce our completed projects. We can now collectively
and patient, but also showed genuine interest in our
agree that science works in a weird and magical way and
projects. They also provided us with guidance and ways in
we saw this when, at first many of our results didn’t work
which we could improve our project in its later stages. We
and we wanted to give up. However, we still got back up
really enjoyed the whole process of collecting data,
and kept going by figuring out a new way to get what we
carrying out experiments and then creating posters and
wanted and fix our mistakes. While some of us won an
booklets from all of the data obtained.
award at the WIT SciFest, without a doubt we all reaped
We really weren’t expecting there to be as many projects on display, but we instantly made friends with the people near our stand. From this experience some of us had learned more about ourselves than imaginable.
the reward of dedication and persistence. In all, we loved it and although it brought us on an emotional roller coaster, we would certainly do it again any day. To conclude, we would like to commend the staff, professors, students, judges and organisers for putting
During this experience I have learned a lot, not only about
together such a wonderful event. This experience can be
science but about myself and my fellow classmates. I found
described as unforgettable and one that will certainly
being around people my age who also have an interest in
benefit us in the future. We appreciate events like this
science, truly made me proud to have chosen Science as
because it gives students like us a chance to gain a wide
one my TY modules. I wish I could’ve participated in this at
range of new skills that can be applied later in our lives. We
a younger age.
are very grateful to have been given such an amazing
My experience at SciFest was productively chaotic. One
opportunity and participating in SciFest@WIT was well
minute I was frustrated, the next I was over the moon. I
worth it.
walked into this classroom knowing absolutely nothing about science, especially since I didn’t do it for my Junior Certificate. I joined my friend’s project about something I had never heard about before and was starting to worry
Note: Janet Williams Oshun and her partner Aleksandra Gramiak were awarded the Abbott Runner-up Best Project Award for their project, ‘Testing the effectiveness of market batteries against our Ecological Houseplant Battery’ at SciFest@WIT 2018
about what we would be doing for the year. Surprisingly, though through many breakdowns and mistakes our project went well. I was nervous to present it at SciFest@WIT because the only practice I had at presenting was with my class, filled with people I knew at our SciFest@School last March. Thankfully the judges were very friendly and easy to talk to. I’m very proud of myself and what I can accomplish and because of this I now have the confidence to choose biology as one of my Leaving
4
www.scifest.ie
SciFest 2018 National Final The Science Foundation Ireland Best Project Award winners from the 16 regional SciFest@College 2018 science fairs will participate in a national final competition on 9 November 2018 in the Marino Conference Centre, Dublin. As in SciFest 2017 a number of the Abbott-runner Best Project Award winners will also be invited to participate in the national final. Following the completion of the regional SciFest@College 2018 science fairs the runners-up will be invited to submit their project report books to SciFest CLG by 28 September. A panel of judges appointed by SciFest will assess the projects, based on the report books, and will select the projects to go forward to participate in the national final.
The top prize on the day is the SciFest 2018 Science Foundation Ireland Intel ISEF Award. This consists of a trophy and an all-expenses-paid trip for the winning student(s) (accompanied by their teacher) to represent Ireland at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Arizona in May 2019. A competition for the Boston Scientific Medical Devices Grand Award will also take place at the national final.
SciFest 2018 Special Moments Sean Byrne, Avondale Community College, SciFest National Finalist in 2016 and 2017 and SciFest@ITC 2018 Environment Award winner with his brother winner of the Newstalk Best Communicator
Roisin Weldon, science teacher, St Michaels College, Dublin, Best Project Award winner at SciFest@ITT 2009. Roisin’s students won a second place category award in SciFest@ITT 2018.
Ronan Mullane, Desmond College, SFI Best Project Award winner SciFest@LIT 2018 with his sister Orla who also presented a project.
What a surprise to discover that Odhran Brady, Salesian College, SFI Best Project Award winner at SciFest@ITT 2018 is Caolann Brady’s brother. Caolann represented SciFest at Intel ISEF 2017 and won a second place award.
5
Dates for your diary Contact Us e: info@scifest.ie
SciFest@TCPID (Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities)
31 May 2018
m: 086 379 6143 w: www.scifest.ie
SciFest@NorthWest Derry
8 June 2018
Sentinus Northern Ireland Young Scientist
26 June 2018
TY EXPO (SciFest Exhibition Stand)
10/11 September 2018
SciFest@Frontiers of Physics (SciFest Exhibition Stand)
29 September 2018
SciFest@Féilte 2018 (SciFest Exhibition Stand)
5/6 October 2018
SciFest National Final 2018
9 November 2018
SciFest Launch 2019
Jan. 2019
SciFest@College 2019 —Closing date for completed entry forms
Friday 8 March 2019
Please check the website regularly for updates Closing date for receipt of entries to SciFest@College 2019 is: Friday 8 March 2019
Thank you to our partners, sponsors, teachers, students, parents, judges and to all who supported SciFest throughout the school year. Have a lovely summer - we look forward to working with you again in September 2018.
SciFest
is supported by The Institutes of Technology, DCU and St Mary’s College, Derry