See the Calmast photo gallery here
See here for more about Bath Taps
The Calmast team represented Maths Week Ireland with a variety of Maths Puzzles and activities. IoP Teacher coordinator Paul Nugent joined us again and ably assisted displaying mindbending physics phenomena with a variety of everyday items.
On Saturday we decamped to Bath City centre to Green St Railway Station. Although the tracks are gone, this is far from a disused station. We shared it with a bustling farmers market and entertained a mainly family audience. We had maths activities again, but in expectation of the audience we also had a lot of simple, messy and fun chemistry activities. And Robert Boyle also made an appearance with his vacuum pump.
We had a quick tour of the Roman Baths and drove around the Royal Circus and Crescent we saw enough of this World Heritage City to want to come back. Definitely!
Thanks to Chris Budd and his team (Peter, Zoraide, Rob and Bob) for a great weekend of Science and Maths.
]]>See here for Programme Details
Waterford Engineering Week was founded in 2007 is now run in association with Engineers Ireland Engineers Week / Week of Wonder. We have a range of workshops, lectures and presentations to suit different ages and interests. As one of the major engineering challenge is energy and climate change and this will impact on all society we have a number of events for young people focussing on this area.
It is a national priority to attract more young people to careers in engineering and with the present economic difficulties this is more important. It is our hope that many of the students attending will eventually avail of the great opportunities in this area. However, the main aim of Engineering Week is to help young people better understand today’s world. From the buildings that give us shelter, the water, food and heat used every day, the technology they use to the energy crises facing the planet, engineering is central to our lives. Engineering Week aims to raise awareness and understanding of engineering.
Many events will be relevant to aspects of the curriculum and all events are designed to be interesting and stimulating to help motivatestudents in the study of engineering, maths and science at school.
Despite the present economic climate WIT has once again endeavoured to keep all events free of charge.
Nevertheless all events must be booked with
Ms. Catriona Carroll, School of Engineering, WIT. (051) 302613 cbcarroll@wit.ie
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This event was one of fifty events taking place in Waterford city and county for Science Week. Over 3,500 places booked out in an hour. There are events for primary and secondary schools, for families, the general public with lectures and workshops on a wide variety of scientific areas.
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rning when we pulled up in front of historic Kilkenny Castle with a van full of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) displays. Sarah, Jess, Martin, Olivia, Michael, Kieran, Paul, Sheila and Eoin started setting up the stand in the drizzle and quickly got ready to entertain the visitors. The weather situation worsened considerably and after a time doing science in the rain we pulled back into the shelter of our tent. A team were dispatched back to Waterford to get some more marquees to shelter the audience. However, by the time they returned the skies had cleared and the sun had appeared.
The rest of the day was very busy displaying science phenomena with apples, nuts, pumpkins and other hallowe'en fare. Robert Boyle appeared from the 17th Century and used his vacuum receiver to create giant marshmallows (unsuccessfully) and boil water (that then froze). He also showed the crowds how he used plant extracts as the first acid-base indicator. Sheila then showed how many food substances could be used as acid-base indicators.
Science busking legend Paul Nugent did amazing physics demos with food. Michael continued his quest for the perfect Coke and Menthos fountain, or in this case several unidentified cola bottles together and rock salt. Most of the crowd escaped the soaking. The young people were also particularly taken with our pumpkin filled with liquid nitrogen!
Looking foward to tomorrow without the rain!
Coordinator of Waterford Scifest, Sheila Donegan welcomed the announcement. "Calmast is delighted to hear of the continuing success of Eoghan and Ruairi with this amazing project, which really captured the imagination of judges at WIT's Scifest."
Calmast's Eoin Gill also added, "congratulations also to Teacher David King who continues a great tradition of science projects at Lismore's Blackwater Community School. It is great to see these students follow in the footsteps of Lismore's Robert Boyle with their scienctific investigations".
Calmast would also like to pay tribute to Sheila Porter the founder and manager of SciFest and Intel for the successful running of the festival which allows thousands of pupils around the island the chance to display their scientific investigations. Thanks are aslo due to Discover Science and Engineering and the other sponsors for their support.
See more at the SciFest website
Any budding young Robert Boyles who want to follow in Ruairi and Eoghan's footsteps SciFest 2012 will take place at WIT on Wednesday 25th April
]]>Following successful appearances at the Waterford Architecture Festival and Spraoi we were delighted to finish up the summer with fun Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths displays in the People's Park. This is all part of our work with Waterford City Council and Waterford County Council and interests around the Southeast Region to Build a "Science Region"
In addition to our usual fare we had demonstrations of "Kitchen Chemistry". It was however too windy to do our famous "PICNIC SCIENCE SHOW". Hopefully next year....
Thanks to all the (over a dozen) students and staff who gave up their weekend to make a difference!
See the WIT stand in this video
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Thanks to all the team: WIT Students and Staff (and children of staff) who assisted to make it such as a success.
Sarah Kavanagh, Ciara Dower, Sarah Wilson, Dylan Conway, Jessica Collins
Beth O' Donoghue, Padraig Kirwan, Michael McCarthy, Paul O' Leary, Kieran Murphy, Evelyn Landers and Eoin Gill
and the O'Leary, Kirwan, Murphy and Landers Kids
Special thanks also to Ireland's leading science busker, Paul Nugent for coming to Waterford to help in this huge promotion of STEM.
]]>Activities explored during the week include
Cell Biology. Microbiologist Beth O'Donoghue introduced students to microbiology and genetics. Students took swabs from around the buildings (from doorhandles etc) and cultured them. They also learned about pathogens and pareisites. For genetics, students learned about DNA, extracted DNA from a banana and ran genetic fingerprinting tests. see video clip here
Computers. Students learned how a computer works the hard (and effective) way - they were faced with dis-assembled PCs and had to assemble them and load an operating system. All under the guidance of electronics lecturer, Michael McCarthy.
Gaming. With Patrick Felicia an expert in Game Based Learning the participants learned about what makes a good game, how a game is built and then made their own games.
Chemistry. Sheila Donegan led this session exploring the use of colour in chemistry. Students tested their own natural indicators and tested a wide range of household items for pH. These were also tested using pH strips and Meters and the results compared. Other exciting experiemnst included flame tests for metals.
Maths. Mathematicians, Kieran Murphy and Padraig Kirwan led these sessions that explored games and strategy and quite a few mathematical tricks.
Physics. Under the guidance of physics lecturers Claire Keary and Catherine Walsh, the students explored the world of sound and other fun and challenging physics experiments.
See picture Gallery Here
]]>“It’s a great honour to have been invited to present at the Science Picnic.” said Eoin Gill, one of the centre’s directors. “It’s fantastic to be able to show people just how varied and exciting science can be.”
Sparks, smoke and fog emanated from one half of the tent on a regular basis as the team cycled through shows on Picnic Science and the works of Robert Boyle, the Father of Chemistry. The resounding success of the Irish exhibition, however, was the innovative and novel outdoor display of maths and science games, puzzles and mazes on offer beside the tent, which were extremely popular with other institutions as well as families and tourists.
The Science Picnic has been held every year in Warsaw since 1997 and since 2008 it has been jointly organised by the BIS Polish Radio and the Copernicus Science Centre. It has grown to be Europe’s largest science festival, with over 100,000 visitors attending again this year.
Irish and Polish cultures have become more and more entwined in recent years and science shines out as an area of significant importance in both countries. This mutual interest in science is an ongoing development and can be seen in the backgrounds of the student populations in Ireland. Two of the student representatives at the Picnic, Anna Jaworska and Joanna Moch are studying pharmaceutical science at Waterford IT but originally hail from Poland. Many of the visitors to the stand had worked in Ireland or had visited family or friends in Ireland.
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Calmast, the Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology set up by Dr. Sheila Donegan and Eoin Gill in 2003, was presented with the ‘Spirit of Enterprise’ Michael Dee Award for 2011 at an awards ceremony this evening (May 12th).
Named after the late Enterprise Ireland executive, Michael Dee, the ‘Spirit of Enterprise’ Award was open to individuals, organisations and companies, who have furthered economic or social development across the South-East region.
Ten nominees in total were shortlisted for the award, which is organised by the Steering Group of the South-East region’s ‘Spirit of Enterprise’ Forum. Representatives from the South-East Regional Authority, the South-East Business and Innovation Centre, the local County and City Enterprise Boards, the Institute of Technology in Carlow and the Waterford Institute of Technology are all members of the Steering Group.
One of the directors of Calmast, Eoin Gill, was presented with the award by Eoin Dee on behalf of the Michael Dee family, Martin Shanahan, Chief Executive of Forfás and Michael Maddock from the Forum’s Steering Group.
Michael Maddock congratulated Calmast at the ceremony, saying: “Through their various initiatives and events, Calmast are helping to foster long-term key skills in mathematics, science and technology in our schools and colleges across the South-East.These important skills will be a key cornerstone to economic and social development in the years to come.”
Pictured are Michael Maddock (Spirit of Enterprise Committee & South East Business & Innovation Centre ), Beth O'Donoghue (Calmast), Eoin Dee (Son of Michael Dee) & Eoin Gill (Director of Calmast holding trophy).
The judging panel for this year’s awards included the President of N.U.I Maynooth, Professor Tom Collins, Joe Greaney, the CEO of WestBIC and President of the European BIC Network and Margaret Ryan, a Development Manager with Enterprise Ireland. The judges felt that Calmast deserved recognition for the role they play in highlighting the critical importance of mathematics, science and technology across schools and colleges, agreeing that their path-finding contribution is one which could, and should, be replicated by higher education institutions throughout the country.
Other high calibre nominees this year included Des Whelan from WLR FM and the Tall Ships Races organising committee, Dr. Willie Donnelly, the Head of Research and Innovation at W.I.T., Robert Leslie from Global Business Register in Waterford, Sam McCauley, founder of the pharmacy chain, Brendan Ennis from Innovation Wexford and the Wexford Enterprise Centre, Blaise Brosnan from the Management Resource Institute in Wexford, Clonmel Chamber in Tipperary, the South Tipperary Women in Business Network and St. Canice’s Kilkenny Credit Union.
The ‘Spirit of Enterprise Michael Dee’ Awards ceremony took place at the Tower Hotel in Waterford, at the end of ‘Ireland and Wales Working Together’ conference, which is organised by the Sustainable Learning Networks in Ireland and Wales (SLNIW).
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"The Award is specifically aimed at those who have transcended political, physical, organisational, and/or sectoral boundaries in the South-East to further the development of enterprise and/or the spirit of enterprise across the region."
And the nominees are....
The nominees from Waterford include-
1. Calmast, the Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology at the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT);
2. Dr. Willie Donnelly, head of research and innovation and founder of TSSG (Telecommunications Software Systems Group) at WIT;
3. Robert Leslie, owner of Global Business Register in Waterford and
4. Des Whelan, chairman of the Tall Ships Races in Waterford and managing director of WLR FM.
From Wexford,
5. Brendan Ennis, the CEO of Innovation Wexford and the Wexford Enterprise Centre,
6. Blaise Brosnan from the Management Resource Institute (nominated by Carlow County Enterprise Board) and
7. the Sam McCauley organisation are also amongst the nominees.
From South Tipperary,
8. the Clonmel Chamber and
9. the South Tipperary Women in Business Network have both been nominated
and from Kilkenny
10. St. Canice’s Kilkenny Credit Union.
The 2011 awards ceremony is due to take place at the Tower Hotel in Waterford on 12 May at the end of the ‘Ireland and Wales Working Together’ Business Network Showcase event.
Calmast directors, Eoin Gill and Sheila Donegan greeted the news of their nomination with delight. "It is wonderful to be considered for such a prestigious award" according to Sheila. While Eoin adds "Whatever happens on the night, It is great to be in the company of so many leading entrepreneurs and innovators in the Southeast Region".
]]>Particpants were invited to consider: "What makes a structure stand up? What makes a strong bridge? All this and more were explored during the workshops, where participants were given a crash-course in architecture and engineering. Particpants built portals, corbells and arches and saw a number of demonstrations. This was followed with two challenges: making the strongest bridge possible using an A4 sheet of paper and building the tallest tower possible using three sheets of paper (no other materials allowed).
The sessions were finished with the assembley of a model cable-stay bridge showing the principles of the wonderful new Waterford Bridge. All the partcipants were able then to walk over this model bridge.
There was a great atmosphere on the day with many families taking place. We were very impressed with the enthusiasm, ingenuity and creativity shown by all the partcipating children. The Calmast sessions alternated with excellent "Architecture and Craftmanship" workshops by Aoife Banim. Other events taking place in the square included Rethink Waterford a brilliant display by WIT Architecture Students provoking passers-by to declare their own thoughts, hopes and visions for Waterford City.
Now in its 11th year, the Waterford Festival of Architecture is the only architecture festival outside the capital. The festival focuses on innovative work by Irish and international architects and will include original designs by Waterford IT architecture students. A list of the festival’s events can be found at www.wfa.ie
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Set on an alien planet, the Mutation Game shows ‘evolution in action’ and is an excellent tool that aids students’ understanding of genetics. Each player or team sees their character change and evolve due to DNA mutations, resulting in different appearances and characteristics.
This novel approach to learning was well received by the teachers who agreed that their students often found genetics a difficult and challenging subject. The teachers highlighted the suitability of the game for different age- groups and class sizes as a major advantage of the game.
The ISTA national conference is the most important event for science educators around Ireland and this year’s conference succeeded yet again in being both entertaining and informative. In the six years that Calmast has presented at the conference, the directors have been continuously energised by the enthusiasm that ISTA members have for science. In particular, Calmast acknowledges the strong support teachers have shown for Maths Week and the Southeast Science Week.
The centre looks forward to attending the 50TH anniversary of the establishment of the ISTA, which will be held in Dublin next year.
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