Meath schools ready to shine at BT Young Scientist Exhibition

Thirteen projects from six Meath schools have qualified for the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2024 which takes place in the RDS from the 11th to 13th January.

Dairy farming, sports medicine, mental health, galaxy clusters and the physics of shot putting are among the wide range of topics investigated by Meath students.

A total of 2,042 project entries were submitted by 4,166 students from 343 schools from across the island of Ireland for the 2024 exhibition, with 550 project ideas chosen to take part in the exhibition.

Students will showcase their innovative ideas in the areas of Social & Behavioural Sciences; Technology; Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences; Biological & Ecological Sciences; and a brand-new category being introduced for 2024, Health and Wellbeing.

St Joseph’s Secondary School has three entries this year.

Transition Year students Amy McGillick, Aoife Brady, and Beth Brady will showcase their project ‘Balancing’ Behaviour’, which investigates the effect of a series of daily balance activities on tantrum/behavioural outbreaks of 4-5 year-olds in a primary school setting.

Transition Year student Libby Clynch has also qualified with her project ‘The Impact of Ice Baths on Sporting Recovery and Game Performance’.

“In my project, I want to investigate whether ice baths benefit player recovery and game performance in the GAA, specifically Gaelic football. Nowadays with many players resorting to using ice baths as a recovery method after training, after games and for injuries, I want to find out whether it is worth it, and if so, how much they can improve performance by and when is the best time to use them,” explained Libby.

Third Year students Sophie Connell and Silvia Simhas have also qualified with their project ‘Learning while playing - gamification of mathematical concepts’. Silvia described their project: “Our project is about making Maths more fun and engaging. We are developing three games that will target the topics students find hardest in maths. We conducted a survey for it and the three hardest topics for students were: Linear equations, Factorising and Area and Volume.”

Meanwhile, Boyne Community School has two qualifying projects. Students Tara Coffey, Jack Ward and Chloe Creagh have entered a project entitled ‘The Incorporation of Multi Species into Dairy Grazing Rotations to Increase Milk Solids. This project involves comparing different grass types and how it impacts on the quality of milk. The multi-species sward has the potential to greatly improve the sustainability of Irish dairy farming and is a very competitive alternative to perennial ryegrass swards in terms of productivity and yield potential while being much more environmentally efficient.

Boyne CS students Aoibhe Kinsella, Milly McKay and Caoilinn Murray are investigating the impact media has on people’s emotion in their project ‘Do Physiological Responses To Emotions Lose Intensity Over Time Due To Repeated Exposure To Sensory Stimuli?’ The results of their experiment indicate that if you are exposed to the same thing, person or feeling too much, it is possible to become bored, desensitized and immune to how it originally made you feel.

Enfield Community College qualified with an individual project by student Liam Kinsella entitled ‘The Physics of shotput: Adapting techniques for Para athletes.’

Eureka Secondary School has two entries - an individual project and a group project.

Second year student Isabelle Martin’s project is entitled ‘Feeling blue’. Isabelle explained: “I decided to research blue light causing Digital Eye Strain for the BT Young Scientists exhibition. I chose this because we spend so much time in our daily lives on devices and I wondered how that would affect our eyes. I discuss how the eye works, what blue light and digital eye strain is, how it happens, the affects COVID had on our eyes, how to identify the symptoms of DES and discuss some of the problems it can cause. I will also explore how to reduce or stop the effects of excessive screen time.”

Eureka's group project is ‘The Secret to Successful Studying’ by third year students Danu McGann, Eloise Finucane and Bronwyn Corcoran.

“Our project is an inquiry into the study techniques that work best for people who have neurodivergences, such as ADHD or dyslexia. We will see the effects that our researched study techniques have, compared to the techniques that people have developed over time by themselves. We will evaluate how helpful our research was to the individuals we tested. We are trying to help these students pass their exams and get higher grades by advising on study techniques specifically for students with these neurodivergences,” they explained.

Loreto Secondary School has four entries this year- two group projects and two individual projects. Isobel Grimes-Merrigan and Niamh Kearns qualified with their project entitled ‘Shock Rocks’ which is an investigation into piezoelectricity, while Weronika Kwasniowska and Varvara Obukhovskai will exhibit their project which investigates the impact of social media on Irish adolescent attitudes towards vaping. Naomi Bakre’s project is entitled ‘Investigating the Impact of Traffic-Related Air Pollution on Air Quality Inside Classrooms Next to Busy Roads’, while Shauna Esmonde will display her project ‘Guardians of the Hidden Galaxy Clusters’ Sixth Year student Niall O’Reilly from St Ciaran’s Community School has entered a project entitled ‘Development of a Portable Projectile Calculator for Educational Purposes’.