Pupils from Castleknock Community College during ScienceWorks, part of UCD Conway's Institute Science4Schools outreach programme
ScienceWorks, part of UCD Conway Institute's Science4Schools outreach programme, took place during national science week (13th - 17th November 2006). Over 200 secondary school pupils from seventeen schools throughout the greater Dublin area and Monaghan enjoyed the half-day workshops designed to excite and enthuse them about science.
School groups were given whistle-stop tours of the cutting-edge research facility whose infrastructure supports the work of 600 scientists in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative environment. Donning laboratory coats, goggles and gloves, pupils wasted no time in getting stuck into some hands-on experiments demonstrated by Conway postgraduate students. They heard about the structure of DNA and were shown how to extract the molecule from a banana. Then, it was over to the pupils to repeat the experiment themselves and secure their souvenir DNA samples.
Scottish First Minister, Mr Jack McConnell with the pupils of the Patrician High School, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan at ScienceWorks, part of UCD Conway's Institute Science4Schools outreach programme.
At the heart of bread and beer making is the process of yeast fermentation. Students worked together to set up an experiment to show how the chemistry of fermentation works. In Chemistry illusions, students explored chemical properties that produced theatrical effects; chromium volcanoes, sugar snakes, changing the colour of money, and creating 80s disco moods using liquid nitrogen. This experiment station was demonstrated by researchers from the Centre for Synthesis & Chemical Biology (CSCB).
Pathways2Science gave pupils the opportunity to hear about the variety of careers available in science. Postgraduate students, postdoctoral research scientists, principal investigators and core technologists working in UCD Conway Institute talked about their Leaving Certificate subjects, their college choices and the highs and lows of their current job. Intended to expel the myths of science and scientists as 'geeky' and 'weird', the talks focused on highlighting the benefits of science as a career and encouraging the next generation of scientists.
The pupils of Patrician High School, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan met Scottish First Minister, Mr Jack McConnell during their ScienceWorks session. The First Minister was in UCD Conway Institute on Monday, November 13th as part of his first official visit to Dublin in which he and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern issued a joint declaration to strengthen links between the two countries on political, scientific and educational issues.
A visit to the Institute during national science week would not have been complete without joining in on the fun of ScienceWorks and the First Minister listened as the boys explained the science behind the experiments being carried out and even joined in the fun - smashing bananas that had been hardened in liquid nitrogen.
