Archive for the ‘EDUCATION’ Category

9 Mar

Galway autism research centre opens

Posted by seanduke in EDUCATION. Tagged: , , , , , .


The first signs of children having autism tend to appear around age two (credit: helpyourautisticchildblog.com)

Autism is a complex disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate, form friendships and interact with the outside world.

It is estimated that one in every 110 children, and one in every 70 boys, is somewhere on the ‘autism spectrum’. Here in Ireland, the help available for autistic children has been poor, and the lack of services placed a huge burden on parents.

That’s all set to change, however, with the establishment on 24th February, of The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research (ICAN) at NUI Galway. The centre will be a focus for scientific research into autism, and for the provision of better educational services for children with autism.

Dr Geraldine Leader is the Director of ICAN.

Listen: Interview with Dr Geraldine Leader

7 Nov

Let’s draw a Finn line in education

Posted by seanduke in EDUCATION, OPINION, THE SUNDAY TIMES. Tagged: , , , , , .


This article was first published in The Sunday Times on 06/11/2011

With Irish secondary-school students still performing poorly in maths and science compared with their peers in other developed nations, it is time to look at the success of the acknowledged “market leader”: Finland.

Finnish students have consistently ranked highly in maths and science in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa). This test, devised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, is a widely accepted ranking system for comparing the abilities of 15-year-old students in developed nations in various subjects.

In 2009, for example, Finnish secondary-school students were ranked second worldwide in science by Pisa, and sixth in maths. In the same year, Irish students were ranked 20th in science and a dismal 32nd in maths. In 2006, the Finns were ranked first in science, while the Irish were 20th. So the pattern is well established.

Ireland and Finland have roughly the same population; the Finns having 5.3m people compared with 4.5m in the republic. Both are on the edge of Europe, and both are techno-literate and entrepreneurial societies.

In Ireland, the availability of young people with good science and maths skills is crucial if we are to develop the much-hyped knowledge economy. Thus the poor standards in these subjects are a concern to the Irish government, but so far all initiatives to raise standards in maths and science have failed.

The Finnish educational success story begins with teaching, a sought-after profession. Teachers are highly respected, and on the best and brightest graduates, the top 10%, can gain entry to teacher-training colleges.

Teachers spend a lot less time in the classroom than in other countries and more time outside the classroom with colleagues devising strategies to help students with particular needs. The teacher is trusted, and given plenty of freedom. A big effort is made to maximise the educational attainment of every child, and those who are struggling are given the attention and help they need.

Finland has many emigrant children, particularly in urban centres, and particular resources are expended on helping them. These children benefit from “positive discrimination” and special resources, such as tuition from experts in multi-cultural learning. It is estimated that about 30% of students in Finland receive some form of special help.

Exams and tests are largely ignored in the primary school years, and there is little pressure put on children to learn. Instead, the emphasis is on play and socialising, the view being that children will learn when they are ready. Even in the depths of winter, children spend a lot of school time playing outside. They also do not have to face hours of homework; in fact, after-school work is minimal.

Finnish students are also not required to attend school until they are seven, and there is a free pre-school year, which is made use of by 97% of the parents of six-year-olds.

The school system is almost entirely publicly funded. There are few private schools, parents do not have to put their children’s names down for “good schools” years in advance, and there are no school-ranking league tables. The gap between the weakest and strongest students is narrower in Finland than anywhere else in the world.

By the fifth year of primary, Finnish students are studying all three main science subjects: biology, chemistry and physics. So by the time that they enter secondary school, these students have three years of science tuition under their belts.

Although the Finns consistently perform brilliantly in the Pisa tests, they have no interest in the rankings. The reason is that, philosophically, the Finns have no time for standardised tests; for comparing students, schools, or nations. The focus is on teaching children how to learn, not how to pass a test. It is a child-centred approach to teaching, a system that does not put emphasis on achieving exam results, but on maximising each child’s potential.

The brilliance of the Finnish system is that it takes pressure off students, teachers and parents, and facilitates a relaxed, creative learning environment, free from the frenzy of competition and over-hyped expectations.

3 May

What attracts people to a career in science?

Posted by seanduke in CAREERS, EDUCATION, YOUNG SCIENTISTS. Tagged: , , , .


Laura Brennan and Megan Oliver, pictured here, Transition Year students at Dominican College Drumcondra, wanted to discover the factors that attract and turn people off to science as a career. 

Why do some people want to become scientists, while others avoid science subjects in school at all costs?

Laura Brennan and Megan Oliver, Transition Year students at Dominican College Drumcondra, north Dublin, sought some answers to these important questions.

Both Laura and Megan are keen on science, and come from a school that is keen on science, judging by the number of projects at the BT Show in January this year from Dominican College. They are also at a crucial juncture in education, as they are about to enter the Leaving Cert cycle and need to make subject choices that will influence their careers.

The girls are ideally placed to judge what it is they like about science, what it is that others don’t like about science, and how can science be made a more attractive option for students at secondary level. The government should pay attention to their findings.

‘NERDY’

The first thing they are keen to ‘put to bed’ is the notion that teenagers are turned off science because of the perception that it is ‘nerdy’ and not something for the ‘cool’ set. They found, in their survey of their peers, that 80 per cent plus were not in the least put off by the perception of science as nerdy. One urban myth shattered then.

The reasons that science is not attractive to many, they believe, have more to do with the perception among some students that science is not relevant to their daily lives. For example, the students said, the group of students disaffected with science, don’t see why an understanding of the atom and its parts, has any relevance to their lives.

Another problem is that science is perceived as being hard, and that it is hard to get into university to study science subjects. This perception doesn’t stand up, said Laura and Megan, and they compared journalism and science at DCU. In 2010, they said, it took about 375 points to get in to study on a science course, while the journalism course was far more difficult to get into with, as it required 445 points. If people knew that it wasn’t so hard to get in to science in college, more might aim for it they said.

It was once the case that girls’ schools didn’t do science subjects, or perhaps only biology, and while things have changed in recent years, things are still not ideal for girls interested in science. They said there was not technology or technical graphics on offer at their school, while both were available at the boys’ school up the road. A lot more girls would be interested in technology than home economics, they said.

Ireland can learn from other countries in the teaching of science, the girls believe. For example, in Sweden, students have 800 hours of taught science per year, whereas Irish students do 600 hours. That extra exposure makes a big difference, the girls believe.

It is vital, the girls believe, that greater effort is made to spark an interest in science, and how the world works generally in students at a young age, before secondary school. For example, they said, people like to know how things work, so perhaps one way for primary teachers to ignite an interest in science would be to take things apart, such as a clock, and demonstrate how the pieces interact to make the clock tell time.

Also, it is important that students are taken out of the classroom situation more, and shown how science is relevant to their lives. For example, a trip to a science museum, or some other place could demonstrate the importance of science to all of us, they say.

The girls have some specific suggestions to increase the numbers of people taking science subjects at second level, as well as wanting to do science as a career.

Some suggestions from the students to encourage more people to aim for a career in science:

  • Science should be mandatory up to the Junior Certificate. At the moment it is possible for students to pass through secondary school without doing any science whatsoever.
  • There should be less Biology and more Physics and Chemistry on the Junior Certificate curriculum to encourage more interest in the latter two subjects.
  • There should be at least one 40 minute class per week dedicated to understanding the mathematics behind a scientific concept, and vice versa.
  • There should be less emphasis on rote learning and more on understanding.
  • Girls should be encouraged to take science subjects, and especially honours maths as many might still not be confident enough to sign up for these subjects.

5 Apr

‘Rachel’s Water’ can prevent water shortages

Posted by seanduke in AGRICULTURE, EDUCATION, SCIENCE SPIN, YOUNG SCIENTISTS. Tagged: , , , .


Rachel Eustace, a second year student from Athy, has a novel idea for dealing with future water shortages in Ireland

First Published in March-April ed. of Science Spin

It seems odd that Ireland should ever experience water shortages, especially in recent years when rural Ireland has been repeatedly flooded by rainfall. That’s the way it is, that’s the way it always has been, but 14-year-old Rachel Eustace, a 2nd year at Ard Scoil na Tríonóid in Athy, has other ideas. She believes we should capture and use our rainfall.

In other countries people collect rainfall and use it for washing clothes, dishes and people. This rainwater is collected off roves and used for all purposes except drinking. In Ireland, we have good quality water available in rainfall, but we don’t bother catching it.

Rachael is clearly an articulate, very bright and practical girl. She wants to change the world, in her own way, but she has the talent to do it. It lifts the heart in Ireland’s darkest hour to see such enthusiasm, energy and talent in our young people. There is hope for us.

Rachel’s family gets most of its water from a well like their neighbours. During periods of heavy rain, and flooding, it is not possible to get water drawn from wells. This leads to the crazy situation where the fields all around can be flooded, while no-one has water.

Practical

Rachel thought to herself – and she is a practical girl remember – What can be done about it? She decided that she start to do something by taking samples of rainwater during rainy spells and send the samples off for testing to see whether rainwater was fit for drinking.

The people at Bord na Móna in Newbridge tested Rachel’s water samples, for water quality characteristics such as PH, conductivity, colour, turbidity and total hardness. The results came back. “They were all within standard – quite good results,” Rachel recalled.

These initial results were encouraging, but before Rachel could collect any more samples, the horrendous period of snow and ice before Christmas kicked in. There was no rainfall for sometime, as any precipitation simply fell as snow. Eventually, following the slow thaw, the first rains after the big freeze came and Rachel began collecting new samples.

These samples, which she numbered 3 and 4, were taken during the first rainfall events after the snow and ice. The samples were completely contaminated with bacteria, too many bacteria to even count. The reason for this was clear. During the freezing weather, the bacteria were not leaving the roofs of houses, they stayed there waiting to warm up.

Warm

Then when the weather finally did warm up, all the bacteria started to move, and they traveled down with the first rains of the warmer weather, down off the roof of Rachel’s home into her water collection container –a small, toy washing machine by the way. This mass migration of bacteria post-snow meant that there were massive concentrations of bacteria in these samples. This water was not drinkable, but the bacteria had at least left.

Two days later, the rain came again, and Rachel collected sample 5. This time the sample had no bacteria at all, she recalled. She was pleasantly surprised with the positive result. It showed that water quality collected from roofs can vary, but vary in a predictable fashion. The results show that it was important that  water is collected at least 15 minutes after rain starts to allow any bacteria present to make their way off the roof first. Also, to allow for a few days following a period of freezing conditions before samples are taken.

Based on all of this research Rachel came up with rainfall collection device. Her device had a screen to block out rocks and leaves. She used filter paper to stop muck and dirt getting into the water, and a micropore filter too, to stop smaller particles and bacteria. The water was then put in sterile bottle and exposed to ultra violet light. This light, many scientists now believe, can kill off 99 per cent of bacteria and viruses that may be present.

She had learned this from researching her topic, and applying it to improve her device.

Rachel was surprised by the positive reaction at the BT Show from members of the public to her water collection device. Some said it would be a great thing, once water charges came in, and water became expensive, while others asked her  when it will be available for sale. The interest got her thinking. She had not been planning to try and develop a saleable product, but now she feels she might like to do that. Her teacher, Ms Ní Fhaoláin agrees. No doubt we’ll be hearing more of ‘Rachel’s water’ in the future.

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