BT Young Scientist Competition, Dublin 2017.

Once again students from Sacred Heart Secondary School are off to Dublin to participate in the BT Young Scientist competition. In total the school has 6 projects which are listed below. We wish our students and teachers, Ms. Holland, Ms. Galvin and Mr. Kiely the very best of luck.

Group 1.  Rachel Hodnett, Maeve O'Regan and Aoife Minihan Their project is an investigation into a natural safe pesticide to control the varroa mite infesting Irish beehives.

Group 3. Olivia Shortall and Ava O'Hare. Their project is investigating "nomophobia" the fear of being without your mobile phone.

Group 4. Caoimhe Diffley, Caoimhe Collins Jennifer Deasy. Their project is title "An  investigation in Flexagons"  and it looks at the geometry of folded paper origami objects.

Group 5. & 6

Investment in Health Literacy is an Investment in Health

Brónagh Deasy and Mary Cullinane

Health literacy is a relatively new concept. It is the ability to make sound health decisions in the context of everyday life. Understanding medical jargon, hospital signage and doctor’s instructions can be a challenge for many. For our project, we investigated the problem by carrying out surveys on the public regarding their ability to comprehend the language used by medical practitioners. We also interviewed medical professionals to discover how well they communicate with patients, whether they give clear, concise instructions or if they use over complicated medical jargon. We published two informative health literacy leaflets. One is a guide to commonly used pregnancy terms whilst the other holds a dictionary like guide to three large hospital departments; cardiology, rheumatology and oncology.

Can music help to retain memory??

Eimear Mc Walters and Uzoma Ogwudiegwu

Answering this question is the whole basis of our science project. We did this through a series of experiments and tests with primary school students in our local area. We played different types of music while a passage was being recited. We then tested the information they learned through some comprehension questions that tested the memory of the passage. We compared this to when there was no music being played. We then retested the students 3 weeks later to see if the music helped them remember the comprehension long term. 

Group 2. Rachel O'Sullivan, Ellen Dineen and Ciara Walsh. Their project is an investigation into the effect late night screen use (tablets and mobile phones) has on your memory.