Innovative Clondalkin students tackle tricky science problem

Can the use of advanced technology help students to learn more quickly? Apparently so according to research carried out by Young Scientists Caoilfhionn Ní Dheoráin and Martha Nic Ionais, both 14 and second-year students at Gael scoil Coláiste Chilliain in Clondalkin Village.

They wanted to help first-year students come to grips with the sometimes difficult concepts in the science curriculum and came up with ways to help their younger counterparts to understand abstract ideas, explained teacher Dioreann de Nogla.

The students were among dozens of Dublin-based students who went to the RDS this Tuesday afternoon to set up their stands.

Scratch language

They merged education with technology, for example using a three-dimensional printer to make shapes and forms that could be used to help explain things such as area, volume, density and force.

They used a series of cubes for example to teach the students about volume, believing that having something they could handle might be more instructive that absorbing the ideas from their books.

The girls used a computer programming language called Scratch to produce animations that continued the work done with the three-dimensional printer. They also developed an app for use by the students as they worked with the ideas.

And like any good teacher they set tests to see how well the first years had come to terms with these abstract concepts. The students performed three times better after the training than before on the basis of the tests, said Ms Ní Dheoráin and Ms Nic Ionais.