5th Class have spent the past month predicting, researching, investigating, experimenting and recording their question for this year’s Science Blast. The question was “How often is Once in a Blue Moon?” Yesterday, was the culmination of their studies, when they went to the RDS to showcase their project.
The children were buzzing with excitement this morning ahead of their trip to Dublin. The bus journey flew as they all chatted, laughed and sang their way to the Big Smoke! Once we arrived, we set up our project display at stall number 59. Immediately, visitors called to view the investigation, and everyone commented about the visual representation of the project and the wonderful knowledge of the children. It certainly looked fabulous on the stand!
The children were divided into groups, and each group spent 30-40 minutes “on duty” showcasing the wonderful work they had done. Everyone got ample opportunities to wander the main arena and see all of the exhibition area, as well as attend both shows “The Science of the Circus” and “Limitless” with Mark the Science Guy. The shows were brilliant scientific experiences and great fun. Three of our students had their recommendations noted as possible upcoming storm names….Abby, Jenna & Olivia! Olivia also got a chance to be a scientific helper in the Limitless show, and James won the propeller challenge of the day, generating a whopping 224 KWH of electricity with his design! Ky’rah made some huge noise with a wind instrument, and Ryan excelled at explaining Python coding to RDS Staff! In fact, all of the children made a big impact on the RDS today.
Our judge, Dr. Leeanne Hinch from Dublin City University was blown away by the knowledge and input of all the children and commented on the teamwork that was evident in abundance.
Her feedback was:
“ I really enjoyed this project! Students had a very clear question that they wanted an answer for. They gathered the information they needed to answer their question, and they figured out a lot about the moon at the same time! They demonstrated their findings in numerous ways, including some lovely hands-on experiments at the stand, and some very impressive Python coding. If students had unlimited resources, they would go straight to the moon to find out more…but without an astronaut, they did very well!!
Students said that one of the problems they had was that there was not much information to find about a Blue Moon, but they clearly expanded their project to inform us about several moon-related topics.
The students chose this topic after learning about the moon, so they used the knowledge that they had, and built upon it. The students were very creative in their display and their findings- particularly the models and the quiz!
Students very clearly worked well together and all had aspects of the project they were responsible for. This was really impressive to see!
Students communicated their findings BRILLIANTLY!! They did so well when answering questions and in how they had displayed their project. I was really impressed.
This was a brilliant project. The students did so well and it’s clear they had great support from their teacher.”
Super praise indeed for our children in 5th Class….and well deserved! We are so proud of them and the effort, energy and enthusiasm they brought to this project, and everything else they do! They were a pleasure to take away to a big day out like Science Blast, and made their teachers and families proud. We are very lucky to be able to enjoy challenging and fun initiatives with respectful, mannerly, kind, brave and great students. Maith sibh go léir.
Finally, a very special word of thanks to Ms.Sloyan, Ms.Peyton, Ms.McDonagh and Sarah for all their hard work and enthusiasm in preparing the children so well, this was a wonderful learning experience for all.
