Picture
The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition will be held in the RDS from January 9th 2o13. While this may seem like a long time away, now is the time to be considering if you want to put in a entry to next years competition. 

Any student who wishes to enter next years competition needs to fill out the online application form http://goo.gl/l5oYk before Wednesday 23rd May.

There are 4 categories biological and/or ecological, Technology, Chemical Physical and Mathematical Sciences and social and behavioural sciences, more details can be found at http://www.btyoungscientist.com/

Add Comment
 
 
Picture
Miami, Shannon, Rachel and Rebecca in Trinity's Labs
Picture
The girls get started on their first challenge
Picture
Miami covers her ears in anticipation of one of the many explosions during the demonstration lecture
Picture
The girls enjoyed an excellent demonstration lecture by Dr John Daly
On Saturday May 12th First year Students
Miami Tolan, Shannon Inigo, Rachel O'Neill (Class Daras) and Rebecca McNamee (Class Dianes) traveled down to Dublin to take part in Salters' Festival of Chemistry in Trinity College.  

The girls took part in two practical challenges on the day. The first task in the morning was the  Salters’ Challenge in which the girls had use their labs skills to discover a murderer. The University Challenge in the afternoon challenged the girls to use their skills to make all the colours of the rainbow using the chemicals provided.

In the afternoon the girls attended an excellent demonstration lecture by John Daly from Blackrock College, where they learned about all manner of chemical reactions including acids and bases, catalysts, fuels and how to make really big bangs.

The final event of the day was the prize giving and in an incredibly competitive event the girls were awarded First place in the 'University Challenge'. This was an fantastic achievement for the girls as this is the first time the school has entered the festival. 

The Science Department would like to congratulate the girls on their wonderful achievement, they represented the school extremely well on.  Most importantly they had a wonderful day and had lots of fun learning about Chemistry. 

Dr Darley & Mrs Finnegan 
Add Comment
 
 
Picture
Alice Brennan won Intel Best Project Award, SEAI award and came 1st in Senior Physical Sciences Category
Picture
Aoife Downey won ESERO Discover Space Award and came 1st in the Junior Physical Sciences Category
Picture
Lauren Eite and Chloe Coyle Duggan came 2nd in Junior Technology group
Picture
St Michael's was represented by 8 projects, 14 students in total
It was a very successful day for the students of St Michael's at this years Sci-fest which was held in the Blanchardstown Institute of Technology. 

Congratulations to...

5th Year Student Alice Brennan who was awarded 3 prizes on the day Intel Overall Best Project Award, SEAI award and 1st in the Senior Physical Sciences Category.
2nd Year student Aoife Downey who won the ESERO Discover Space Award and came 1st in the Junior Physical Sciences Category
2nd Year students Lauren Eite and Chloe Coyle Dungan who came 2nd in Junior Technology group

The school was very well represented by 8 projects presented by 14 students and on the day took 6 prizes including 3 special awards. The projects were:
- Alice Brennan (5th Year) -  "Under pressure" to generate electricity!
- Shannon Inigo and Emma Fox (1st Year) -  Are our classrooms distracting us?
- Aoife Downey (2nd Year)  - Can we grow a plant on Mars?- Catherine O'Brien (1st Year) - How can we prevent plants from dying in the cold?
- Áine O'Reilly, Hannah Seery and Elaine Kavanagh (2nd Year) - How much bacteria is in our make-up brush?
- Lauren Eite and Chloe Coyle Dungan (2nd Year) - Is switching on stopping us from switching off : A study of phone use.
- Laoise Moore and Sarah McShane (1st Year) - Which camera is better: digital or film?
- Scarlett Marcello and Orla Corrigan (2nd Year) - To test the effect of T.V. changing people’s attitude towards school.
Well done to all the girls who participated  they worked extremely hard during their free time on their projects and  did the school so proud on the day.
Dr Darley
Add Comment
 
 
Picture
1st Place: Susan Whelan, Akaotah Okri, Megan O’Donnell and Niamh Mooney
Picture
2nd Place: Clodagh Finnegan, Rachel Flynn, Benita Forte and Catherine Hughs
2 Groups of 5th Year Chemistry Students from St Michaels have been awarded 1st and 2nd place in the CRANN “Whats next for Nano?” poster competition.  CRANN is Irelands leading nanotechnology research centre.  The competition asked the students to predict where they saw nanotechnology being used in the future.  The judges for the competition included the head of CRANN Professor John Boland and Irish Times Science Correspondent Claire O’Connell who were extremely impressed by the girl’s entries.
1st Place went to Niamh Mooney, Megan O’Donnell, Akaotah Okri and Susan Whelan
2nd Place was awarded to Rachel Flynn, Benita Forte, Catherine Hughs and Clodagh Finnegan

The posters were on displayed in the Science Gallery Studios on Friday and on Saturday the girls received their prizes of ipod nanos at the Irish Science Teachers Association 50th Annual Conference were they also got to see a talk by BBC science Presenter Dr Michael Mosley.

Congratulations to the girls and to all the 5th years who took part in the competition. All six entries are displayed below

Dr Darley
Add Comment
 
 
With just over 7 weeks until the exams begin its never to late to look for some last minute help or inspiration and there is loads of both on the internet. Here is a list of a few websites (and a few free apps) that I have come across. This list is by no means comprehensive so if you have any suggestions please do not hesitate to leave your suggestion in the comments below and I will add them to the list. Remember these websites are not a substitute for you own class notes but an addition to help you along.
Dr Darley

Android Apps

Picture
CHEMISTRY REVISION APP
Picture
FLASHCARDS+ (CAN BE LINKED TO QUIZLET)
Picture
MINDJET - mind mapping app
Picture
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY VISUALIZED
For Junior Cert Science and Leaving Cert Physics, I really can not recommend a better website than  http://thephysicsteacher.ie/. A brilliant website that caters for the Irish curriculum with notes and interactive resources. (Don't forget to leave a thank you message on the site)


The next website can be used for all subjects http://www.studyclix.ie/.  
This is an entirely FREE website .  Studyclix breaks up the main junior and leaving cert subjects into topics and then for each topic there is all past exam questions with marking
schemes. It also has the best learning resources (videos/links/powerpoints) for each topic

For those of you who like using flashcards as a method of learning http://quizlet.com/ is a free website that allows you to not only make your own flash cards but access flashcards already made up by other people [just use JC Science, LC Chemistry and LC Biology in the search bar]. It also contains games and tests to make sure you have learned.

If you are more of a visual learner check out http://www.absorblearning.com/or  http://phet.colorado.edu/  both have access to interactive animations that may help you with your studies (slightly limited in the case of absorb learning). 
Don't forget sites like Youtube , the BBC schools website http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/,  http://www.skoool.ie/ will also have resources you can use.

And if your look for a bit of the lighter side of Science check out http://www.frogblog.ie/ and http://www.periodicvideos.com/ for some science related light relief.
Add Comment
 
 
Picture
Well done to Sixth year Chemistry Student Sinéad Nolan who along with 77 other students from all over Ireland competed in the Irish Chemical Sciences Olympiad in Dublin City University on Saturday March 3rd.
The Science Department would like to congratulate  Sinéad and thank her for taking time out from her studies to participate in the competition 
 
 
Picture
St Michael's Students Eimear O'Reilly and Erica Hughes
Students from St Michael's along with  More than 500 students from second-level schools throughout Ireland at the Royal College of Surgeons open day.During the day-long event, Leaving Certificate and A' Level students got the opportunity to meet with RCSI staff, students and graduates, to give them an idea of what it is like to study medicine, pharmacy and physiotherapy and take up careers in these areas. 
http://www.rcsi.ie/index.jsp?p=100&n=110&a=2037 
 
 
Picture
St Michael's Students at Sci Fest 2011
Sci-fest is wonderful event held every year in conjunction with the Institutes of Technology. It aims to  encourage a love of science and maths by providing students with a forum to present their scientific investigations. 
Last year St Michael's was represent 20 students at the event with two projects picking up top prizes. 'Snack Attack' by Jayne Duddy was awarded first place in the junior physical science category.
'The Effect of Music on Students Concentration' by Grace Cassidy, Ciara Sheridan and Emily Higgins was awarded first place in the junior life science category. 
This years Sci fest will be held on Wednesday May 9th in IOT Blanchardstown. For those interested in entering a project the closing date for entry forms is Wednesday March 2nd, however some work must be completed on the project before entry forms are submitted. For more information on entering contact Ms Darley. Further information, project ideas and guidelines can be found at http://www.scifest.ie/ 
 
 
If you have been watching the news recently you may have noticed that the 'Northern Lights' have been appearing on our own shores. 

The Northern Lights or aurora borelais are caused by highly charged particles from solar wind interacting with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in our upper atmosphere, this interaction causes the elements to release light. The colour of the aurora depends on the element and how high it is in the atmosphere for example if the oxygen in our atmosphere is lower than 150miles the aurora will be green, however oxygen above this height and the aurora appears red. The blue and violet colours are due to nitrogen.

As the charged particles hit out atmosphere they are directed to the poles by the earths magnetic field as a result the aurora borelais (or austrailis if you are in the southern hemisphere) can only be seen in the far northern or southern hemispheres. 

At the moment the sun is at what is called a solar maximum, this is when the sun is at the peak of its activity and occurs every 11 years. This activity triggers giant explosions or solar flares on the surface of the sun which sends highly charged particles hurtling towards earth. These flares can cause more than just pretty lights in the sky, in 1989 a burst of solar wind also known as coronal mass ejection hit earth causing radio and satellite disruptions and a blackout in Quebec. 

Since 1995, geomagnetic storms and solar flares have been monitored from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite, a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency. 

If you want to spot the aurora in Ireland the best place is in Donegal between now and March.
Picture
photography.nationalgeographic.co
Picture
Photo of Aurora taken from the International Space Station
Picture
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/23oct_superstorm/
 
 
NASA astronaut Dan Tani was a guest of IOTI at the 2012 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. Picture above shows Dan presenting the IOTI Special Award to Maedhbh Tiernan and Hannah Grant from Loreto Secondary School, Navan.  http://www.ioti.ie/news/latest-news