BRIGHT MINDS AT BT EXHIBITION

WICKLOW is celebrating another successful year at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE).

Brendan Conroy from Avondale CC and Evan Dargan Hayes from St Gerard’s School both picked up awards at the annual event.

Third year Avondale student Brendan Conroy placed third in the intermediate Social Behavioural Science (individual) category with his project, ‘Music To My Ears: A Statistical Analysis of the Effects of Earphones on a Road User’s Perception’. Brendan investigated if the use of headphones negatively affected perception levels and put road users at risk of injury. Brendan explained that he was inspired by his siblings’ recent attempts at learning to drive and by ‘numerous memes about people turning down the radio in order to see better and decided to test if there was any scientific logic to this theory’.

With the support of science teacher Aoife Sullivan, Brendan surveyed 100 students. His research-based experiment also revealed some interesting results including 50 per cent of participants, who wore headphones and listened to either music or podcasts while engaging with an online hazard road test, recorded a reduction in acuity levels and were less aware of potential dangers and risks.

St Gerard’s student Evan Dargan Hayes won the Housing Agency special award for his project ‘Electric Paint – how much graphite is needed to heat your home?’. The transition year student’s project was in the intermediate category of the Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences section. The Housing Agency special award is presented to a project that has the potential to improve housing quality, supply, access or experience in an innovative way.

Ten projects from six Wicklow secondary schools qualified for the 2020 BTYSTE. The

Wicklow secondary schools at this year’s BTYSE were: St Mary’s College, St David’s SS, St Gerard’s SS, Presentation College and Coláiste Craobh Abhann.

Separately, Ms Mulcahy’s fourth class from Ravenswell NS presented their project ‘Which fruit is the best battery source?’, at the Primary Science Fair which runs alongside the BTYSTE. The Primary Science Fair showcases projects from primary schools across the country.

The four-day event provides opportunities for students and visitors to visit stands which showcase the cutting-edge science. Among the highlights of this year’s show was the World of Robots, which featured robots from the BBC show, ‘Robot Wars’. A total of 550 projects made the finals of this year’s event.

Cormac Harris and Alan O’Sullivan, Coláiste Choilm in Co Cork scooped the top prize at the BTYSTE for their project on gender stereotypes.

Evan Dargan Hayes from St Gerard’s with his project ‘Electric Paint – How much graphite is needed to heat your home?’, which won a Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences (Intermediate) Special Award.

St Mary’s College students Leilani Phillips, Senuri Wickramaratne and Patricia Purina with their project ‘Saving the planet one flush at a time’.

Megan Byrne Holt from St David’s Holy Faith with her grandfather Michael Byrne and her project ‘To investigate if vegetarianism is healthier than an omnivorous diet’.

Luise Fiedeldey and Megan Parkinson from St Mary’s College with their project ‘Reduced timetable for children with special needs – are we proud of this as a country?’