Scifest @ DIT
Kevin and Ciarán recently attended Scifest at DIT, Kevin Street, Dublin. The Scifest series of one day science fairs is open to all second level students and is hosted nationwide by the Institutes of Technology and the University of Ulster, Magee Campus, Derry. For a full schedule of events and venues go to www.scifest.ie and check out what is happening near you.
The event brought together various schools from the greater Dublin area creating a great atmosphere of science and technology. The array of projects was breath taking with topics including gymnastics and the forces of gravity, foodstuffs and bacterial content, sports and biology and even memory retention and psychology. The enthusiasm and knowledge of the subject matter was really impressive and once the teams got started talking and explaining their project and methodologies to us their attention to detail was meticulous in the extreme. Ciarán particularly enjoyed perusing a project which highlighted how we use our senses to digest information. It showed colours with the colour name written on them and then colours with other colour names written on them. I know I know it even sounds confusing but a great research was achieved and the team did a very fine job in presenting their findings. Kevin meanwhile was particularly impressed with one team’s investigations into the age old theory of the “5 second rule”. The results showed that levels of bacteria are everywhere and sometimes eating off the ground can be safer than eating out of your hand!
Scifest is a growing phenomenon here in Ireland and all schools should take the opportunity to get involved and enjoy the science.
