All 1st year students travelled to Birr Castle and Science museum last November. They partook in workshops that day in Science. They enjoyed travelling through the grounds and gardens on a horse and cart. They also experienced a guided history tour of the castle. As part of research and engaging the key skills of Communicating, Managing Information & Thinking, Being Creative and Working with others they had to complete a 3-5 minute presentation or movie clip on a relevant Earth & Science related topic.
The winners in 1B were Gulan Wahid, Aine Milner and Alison Ryan. They completed an excellent movie on Seasons. They included their own voice overs on each clip. They defined seasons and described predictable phenomena on Earth in line with the learning outcomes in the new Earth & Science part of the Junior Cycle Science programme. They developed a detailed picture of how the earth’s rotational axis contributes to seasons. They had lovely photographs taken from their trip to Birr Castle integrated into the movie. Well done to the girls who were awarded with Book tokens for their hard work and recognition of their research completed.
The winners of the group presentation from class 1A were Grainne Treacy, Gillian Craig, and Sinead Hough. The focus of this presentation was ‘astronomy’ and the various facets of astronomy and its study. Successfully, the girls also interlinked the various elements of the topic to their trip to Birr castle and the many instruments and interactive tools they encountered on this trip which enhanced their understanding of the world of astronomy and also their engagement with the topic overall.
Sean Wyles, Thomas Brennan and Eve Speiser were the undisputed winners of group 1C. This group produced and presented an impressive iMovie which encapsulated both images and footage of the signature telescope of Birr castle with the focus of the study of ‘Planets’ within our solar system. They established the importance of such a tool in such study and making fundamental discoveries about planets.
