By Claire Corrigan
Tubberclareeee students, Rory Kane and Eoghan Duffy, once again did Westmeath proud by taking home a prize at the Intel Mini Scientist Grand Final in Dublin on Friday, 22 January. The boys’ project was awarded ‘Best Project Book’, which was a great achievement. The event is a culmination of the nationwide competition which has been running since September 2015.
The Intel Mini Scientist, which is now in its 9th year, gives primary school students from 4th, 5th and 6th class the chance to explore science through project- based learning and exhibitions.
The first phase of the programme involves students participating at local level exhibitions where Intel judges visit the participating schools, choosing two winning projects in each. The second phase saw each of these winning projects take part in the Mini Scientist Regional Finals which were hosted throughout December in Leixlip, Shannon and Cork.
This year there were almost 2,000 projects exhibited as part of the Mini Scientist competition and the Grand Final brought together the top 22 projects from across the country.
The participants exhibited their projects for a panel of judges, which was made up of Intel employees, who had the difficult task of choosing the winning projects from the very creative variety. Each of the projects included visual displays, project books and practical experiments based on a scientific area aligned with the national primary science curriculum. The Grand Final was attended by Damien English, Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, who had the opportunity to visit each of the participant projects before helping to award the prizes to winning projects.
The students, who are in 6th class at St Clare’s NS, Tubberclare, embarked on the Mini Scientist journey after the Halloween holidays with their project, ‘Heat From Below’, based on Geothermal energy. Eoghan and Rory researched the source of this energy and how it can be used specifically to heat our homes. They researched the use of photovoltaic panels in conjunction with geothermal energy to make your house even more environmentally friendly. The boys designed and constructed a two storey house and modelled the underfloor heating system powered by geothermal energy coming from an external bore hole. Eoghan and Rory then progressed to the Regional Finals in Intel in Co. Kildare and emerged as one of the finalists for the National Finals.
