Bt Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2008 in St. Aidan’s Comprehensive School, Cootehill, Co. Cavan.
Once again St. Aidan’s Comprehensive School, Cootehill was well represented at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition. This year the school entered four projects. One student group was made up of three Transition Year students, Alison Harpur, Catherina Mullen and Tanya Smith. They were mentored by their teacher Ms Debbie Coss. Their project was entitled ‘An Awareness Study of Osteoporosis in our School’.
They decided on this particular topic as all three girls knew someone who suffered from the disease and so were fully aware of how common it is. They thought it a good idea to heighten awareness of the causes of osteoporosis amongst students in St. Aidan’s. They researched the disease extensively and carried out a questionnaire survey amongst random sample groups within the student body. The Parents Association were also most helpful in filling in some questionnaires to get some adult feedback.
This year the BT Young Scientist Exhibition had over 1,400 entries. Only 500 of those were accepted to enter the competition and exhibit their project to the public in The RDS. Congratulations to all involved.
Three other projects were entered and were mentored by their teacher Ms. Joanne Corbit. They were as follows:
Why don’t penguins’ feet freeze!
This project was a group entry entered by three third year students Cian McPhillips, Conor Moynagh and Liam Keane. They were mentored by their teacher Ms. Joanne Corbett. The aim of the project was to investigate why penguins’ feet don’t freeze in the cold Antarctic conditions of the North Pole. 
The penguins body is kept warm with layers of blubber and feathers, the feet do not have the blubber of feathers to protect them from the cold. So how does the penguin prevent their feet from freezing? Through research we found that there were two mechanisms used by the penguin to prevent their feet from freezing. These mechanisms ensure the feet are kept 3-4 degrees Celsius above freezing (1) Reduction in the diameter of the blood vessels in the feet which reduces the surface area over which heat can be lost and also reduces the amount of blood flowing to the foot and so less blood is subjected to the coldness in the foot. (2) Counter-current circulation breaks the blood vessels entering the foot into a webbed structure this allows heat to be shared between arteries and veins and thus prevent freezing.
As part of the project a model penguin was built. This demonstrated both mechanisms in the feet with a motorised pumping system to the flow of the warm and cold blood and how the blood vessels change in structure in the feet.
Sudden Death Arrithymia Syndrome: An Investigation into the need for defibrillators in schools and GAA clubs.
This project was a group entry entered by two third year students Aidan Hannigan and Blaithin Hughes. They were mentored by their teacher Ms. Joanne Corbett. The aim of this project was to investigate the need for defibrillators in schools and GAA clubs in the Cavan/Monaghan area.
In light of recent deaths of young people from Sudden Death Arrithymia Syndrome (SADS) and the fact that research indicates that defibrillators are a life saving piece of equipment in cases of this disease, the students decided that it was worthy to investigate the need for defibrillators in the Cavan/Monaghan area.
A total of one hundred surveys were sent out to primary schools, secondary schools and GAA clubs to collect data on the need for defibrillators. These surveys were analysed and all findings were presented.
It was found that most GAA clubs have now held fundraising events to fund defibrillators for their clubs. A number of schools now have defibrillators and many have plans to fundraise in the future for one of these life saving pieces of equipment. GAA clubs and schools in the Cavan/Monaghan area all felt that the defibrillator was a worthwhile piece of equipment and that our government should aid these establishments in the purchasing of them.
St. Aidan’s Comprehensive School ran their own fundraiser in Christmas 2007 and will themselves purchase a defibrillator in the New Year.
Dying to Drive: A Study of Seatbelt Wearing in Teenagers
This project was a group entry entered by two third year students Sarah McComish and Teri Quinn. They were mentored by their teacher Ms. Joanne Corbett. The aim of this project was to survey the teenagers in their school to highlight the situations where they
do not wear their seatbelts.
Road deaths are ever increasing in Ireland and young people are the most likely to be involved in fatal collisions. Death is less likely to occur in a collision if a seatbelt is worn and still many people die on our roads because of not wearing their seatbelts.
Each year group in our school filled in a questionnaire that was designed to highlight situations where students did not wear their seatbelt. An education programme was designed to highlight the importance of wearing a seatbelt all of the time. This education was delivered to each year group. Students were given the questionnaire again to evaluate if their opinions had changed on seatbelt wearing and if they had realised the importance of wearing the seatbelt all of the time. We found that our students’ opinions had changed in relation to seatbelt wearing and most students said they would wear their seatbelt all of the time.