Study smarter: Twin sisters from Tallaght CS win Young Scientist award

THE impact of study habits and wellness sessions, and making Artificial Intelligence more efficient, are just some of the topics that were covered by local schoolchildren at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) in the RDS last week.

Pupils from schools including Tallaght Community School (TCS), Coláiste Phádraig CBS in Lucan, and Presentation College in Terenure received awards at the exhibition.

Fettercairn twins and TCS pupils Aimee and Ashlee Keogh (17) came third in the social and behavioural sciences category for their project ‘Mind the Gap: Unravelling Student Study Habits’.

The fifth year students developed the idea for their project last summer and looked at various study habits, and what can cause students to procrastinate.

The girls surveyed other students about their study habits, then developed a website where students could find out what type of learner they were and how to avoid procrastination.

Aimee and Ashlee’s science teacher, Kate O’Gorman, told The Echo: “They did surveys, focus groups and designed a study.

Therese Gunning, Legal Director BT Ireland presents the 3rd Senior Group Award to Ashlee and Aimme

“They called it multifaceted research because they had investigated it in different ways, and they looked at the intention-action gap in studying.

“They looked at what they could do to lessen the intention-action gap and set up an action plan.

“They created a website that showed people what kind of learners they were and, depending on the type of learner you are, they came up with a method for reducing that gap.”

TCS was the only Tallaght school that placed in this year’s BTYSTE and Ms O’Gorman said the school community is “so proud” of the Keoghs and they have inspired their classmates to take part next year.

Armand Meijers, Conor Burns and Karl O’Connor from Kishoge Community College Lucan and their project ‘A smart facial recognition system for medical settings’

Over in Lucan, pupils from Coláiste Phádraig CBS also saw success with their students winning two awards for two very different but equally impactful projects.

Fifth year students Aniruddh Sriram, Abhinav Sriram and Sam Jacob came third in the health and wellbeing category for their ‘B-Well’ project.

The study looked at the impact that engaging in a ten-minute mindfulness session at lunchtime had on students’ mental health during the school day.

Kevin Carey, a science teacher in Coláiste Phádraig, said the project was influenced by the school’s focus on mindfulness, led by wellbeing teacher Jacqueline Farrell.

“One of the teachers in the school coordinates wellbeing and mindfulness and the three lads are very much into that aspect of wellbeing,” Mr Carey told The Echo.

Kate Smith, Martha Barrett and Leyla Randall from St Colmcille’s Community School, Knocklyon and their project ‘Just How Filthy is Your Reusable Water Bottle?’

“They came up with the idea of tracking how well students were feeling when they were coming into school and when they were leaving and they would score how they felt.

“There was a 10-minute mindfulness session held at lunchtime to see how it would affect the scores at the end of the day.

“They found the students who attended the mindfulness session, their scores went up by the end of the day, while students who didn’t attend had lower scores or their scores stayed the same.”

Coláiste Phádraig also made a mark in the technology category, courtesy of third year student Hazem Ahmed’s in-depth project.

Titled ‘Developing Genetic Algorithms and Testing their Viability in place of Traditional Neural Networks’, the project was highly commended by BTYSTE judges.

Hazem’s project looked at how developing genetic algorithms, or cells, can increase the efficiency or accuracy of Artificial Intelligence compared to traditional neural networks that are commonly used.

Hazem Ahmed, Colaiste Phadraig CBS Lucan and his project ‘Developing Genetic Algorithms and Testing their Viability in place of Traditional Neural Networks’

“He found that if you revise a computer’s neural network for AI, it becomes more efficient,” explained Mr Carey.

Having two projects being recognised by the BTYSTE judges is a point of pride for Coláiste Phádraig, and Mr Carey said he was “delighted that [the students] got that bit of extra recognition.”

Students from Presentation College in Terenure also received awards for projects centred on gender bias in Lego projects and investigating the effectiveness of gooseberry extracts against antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Students from St Colmcille’s Community School in Knocklyon were highly commended for their project ‘Haemochromatosis – why does Ireland have the highest rate in the world and what can we do about it?’.