Heywood team at BT Young Scientist and Technology exhibition making memories
Team from Heywood Community School in Ballinakill focused on how hydration affects memory
Among the five Laois school projects at the BT Young Scientist & Technology 2024 Exhibition is a team from Heywood Community School.
Daniel Bergin, Rachel Dunne and Cara Mezzepelle won a spot for their science investigation into the effects that hydration levels have on short-term memory.
They told the Leinster Express / Laois Live more about it.
"We chose this because we are third year students and we wanted to see how we could do better in exams in preparation for our junior certificate.
"Teachers tend to be against students drinking water in class, so we wanted to see if we could prove them wrong and show that drinking during class does benefit students learning.
"We knew that you need water for your body to function, but wanted to investigate further into how it affects your brain. We did some research and were unable to find much about the link between hydration and short-term memory. We decided that we would like to investigate this ourselves," Daniel said.
"We have really enjoyed every part of the competition so far. We found that, even just from conducting the experiment and writing the reports together, our friendships grew.
"We were feeling nervous about the judging on the first day, but once we got over the first one, we realised that it wasn’t so bad and it is just like a conversation. We are now enjoying the competition and loving the experience, and learning lots. We have seen some very interesting projects and met some lovely people," Rachel said.
"We’ve become closer throughout the competition, and it has been a great bonding experience for us. Since arriving up, we’ve found it’s a completely different experience from going to school in Laois. We’ve met people from all over the country and seen many different talented people with really impressive projects. We learned a lot from talking to the judges and are excited for what the next two days have to offer," Cara said.
Their science teacher Orla Mooney is with the team at the RDS.
"From a teacher's prospective the young scientist competition gives students a great opportunity to improve their scientific skills and also to explore their interests which can help them when it comes to subject and career choice.
"It's great to see how their confidence grows exponentially throughout the exhibition and how much enjoyment they get from interacting with their peers from other schools and areas of the country," she said.
Other Laois entries include two from Portlaoise College, one from St Mary's CBS and one from Mountrath CS.
Opening on January 10, 550 projects from 219 schools are on display, spanning the four exhibition categories of Technology, Biological, and Ecological Sciences, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences and a new fifth category introduced this year for the 60th BTYSTE, Health and Wellbeing. A judging panel of 85 experts from the world of STEM and business will have the challenging task of choosing over 200 prize winners, including the overall BT Young Scientist and Technologist (s) of the Year, awarded €7,500. The overall winner(s) will be announced at an awards ceremony on Friday, January 12 at 5:30pm and will once again represent Ireland at the EUCYS which will take place this year in the European City of Science 2024 – Katowice, Poland.