Exciting science show at ITB

THERE was lots of interactive fun at Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB) last week when pupils from three local schools were invited to take part in a unique learning event.

Over 120 youngsters from Ladyswell Mulhuddart, Scoil Mhuire Blakestown and St Patrick's Corduff descended on the campus for the exciting science show hosted by W5 and supported by Dogs Trust.

Based in Belfast, W5 is an award winning discovery centre where interactive shows bring fun and learning together in the context of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).

It’s hoped that workshops like last week’s one in ITB will help pupils to visualise difficult concepts and theories by using a range of active teaching methods.

Pupils at the event also attended an interactive education workshop hosted by education and community officers from Finglas based Dogs Trust, Ireland's largest dog welfare charity.

The idea was to educate the children about responsible dog ownership and topics such as dog welfare needs and how to be safe around dogs were covered.

Linking back to the school curriculum, the workshop was also designed to stimulate the children’s skills of literacy, numeracy and citizenship as well as giving them a chance to develop team working and communication skills.

ITB's Aideen Hodgins explained what the event was all about.

“As part of our ongoing community engagement activities, we were delighted to host pupils from our three local primary schools here at ITB,” she said.

“We hope that the W5 workshop will help to spark their interest in STEM and inquiry-based approaches to learning, while also developing their creative and problem-solving skills.

“The Dogs Trust workshop was very informative and really helped to develop the children’s understanding of the level of responsibility in dog ownership."

The event followed closely on the heels of four very successful computing camps at ITB aimed specifically at second level students.

Facilitated by ITB's Department of Informatics in conjunction with the Higher Education Authority, IBM and Liberty IT, the camps attracted almost 300 students to the ITB campus.

Over five days, students from various secondary schools deeply engaged with the exciting world of technology by means of a gaming camp, a ‘Coding4Girls’ camp, a digital filmmaker camp and a Cyber Security camp.

It’s hoped that these events will help to promote computing, technology and engineering as a career choice among young people.