SciFest 2011
Two first year students at Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone claimed the Intel Best Project Award at the SciFest competition held at Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) today, 14 April.
Eva Barry and Karen Garvey won the award for their project entitled ‘Predictive Input Touch System’, which examined how mobile phones and texting could help people overcome their frustration when typing on a standard computer keyboard.
Their system was based on a 9-key mobile phone pad, with the user making words by sliding their finger or a stylus across the pad. The word ‘was’ for example, could be input by sliding a finger from 9-2-7 and then lifting the finger.
SciFest organsier at AIT Dr Noreen Morris congratulated Eva and Karen on their success. “This is a fantastic example of the novel use of technology and highlights how smart solutions can be found to everyday problems. We are delighted with the large number of students who have participated in SciFest at AIT. The competition is getting bigger and better every year and that is a credit to the dedication of science teachers at second level and also to the enthusiasm of the students themselves,” she said.
The winners of the other principal prizes were: Abbott Runner-Up Award: Thomas Maguire, Moate Community School for his project, ‘Home Heating from Household Waste’. The winners of the Discover Sensors Award were Paul Kelly and Darragh Owens, Moate Community School for ‘The Big Bounce Theory’. The BT Best Communicator Award went to Anna Marie Reilly, Phoebe Kelly and Nicola Fetherstone of Meán Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál, Roscommon for ‘The Relationship between School Entry Age and Academic Performance’. This project also won the NCE-MSTL Mathematics in Science Award.
Aisling Brady, Hayley Cumberland and Ana Silva, also of Meán Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál, won the PharmaChemical Ireland International Year of Chemistry 2011 Award for their project entitled ‘Drink Testing: Protection of False Security’. Maeve Waters and Niamh Egan also from the Mercy convent school won the Peter Keenan Sports Science Award with their investigation of ‘Branded Sports Drinks versus Homemade Sports Drinks’. With a total of 12 awards, the honour of winning The Best School Award sponsored by AIT went to Meán Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál, Roscommon.
Katie Cogley of the Sacred Heart School, Tullamore won the Most Innovative Project Award with a ‘Comparison of the Accuracy of Minimally Invasive Surgery & Standard Hip Replacement Surgery’.
The Oriflame Cosmetics Award went to Orlaigh Sweeney and Jane Tuohy from Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone for ‘Which Cosmetic Tops the Rest?’ Fellow Bower student Kate Gibney won the Bimeda Veterinary/Animal Science Award for her work on ‘The Use of Worm Egg Counts on Dung To Show that Chemical Wormers Reduce the Parasite (worm) Burden in Horses’.
The SciFest competition at AIT is the largest in the country. This year over 400 students from throughout the Midlands exhibited 176 projects at the event.
Sheila Porter, SciFest National Coordinator, said: “SciFest is a fun and exciting way to encourage an interest in science at school level, providing not only an occasion to celebrate achievement and a job well done but also an opportunity to encourage active and collaborative learning. 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, Abbott Ireland, PharmaChemical Ireland and all the institutes of technology. Without their support, none of this would be possible,” she added.
Opening the SciFest competition, AIT Secretary and Financial Controller John McKenna said: “Science, engineering and technology is a central part of what we do at AIT. We have invested millions in new facilities to ensure that our students and researchers learn and work in facilities that are on a par with the best in the world. We have developed a range of new science degrees that will be introduced over the coming years. These courses are in areas such as forensic and environmental toxicology, pharmaceutical science and biotechnology. A new degree in sport science and exercise physiology is due to start this September,” he noted.
