Every year, the BT Young Scientist and Technology awards attract over 1500 entries from secondary schools around Ireland. This year was no different, 354 schools participated in the competition, all hoping to be the young scientist of the year. Green-Schools Officer, Joanne Scott went along to have a look at some of the projects.

James Poole and John Hewer from Rice College in Mayo looked at the response of native fish to environmental stress. Their project tested how different types of water, polluted and non-polluted affected fish in their local rivers. They explained that in the more polluted rivers the fish could actually be seen “coughing”, where as the non polluted water there were less signs of stress in the fish.

Figure B: Celine O Brien and Caoimhe Ryan from Mount Sackville Secondary School created a type of plastic made from biodegradable materials. Much more environmentally friendly than most plastics on the market and it breaks down in less time too. Although more tests need to be done on it before it can be used for food storage, it already has many possible uses. Well done girls!

Running alongside the main expo was the RDS Primary Science Fair where I meet Micheal and Darragh from St. Tola’s N.S. Co. Westmeath. They did a project on wind power and also got to visit a wind farm with their class. They showed me how a wind turbine operated using the example of a homemade turbine and a hair dryer. Well done boys, great work.

Green-Schools would like to congratulate all the students who participated in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Awards, with special congratulations to the overall winners Eric Doyle and Mark Kelly , from Synge Street CBS, Dublin 8!

Visit the BT Young Scientist and Technology Website Here.