Science Week fun at Offaly secondary school

This year, Tullamore College celebrated science week over a  two-week  period.    It started with “Science  For  Fun” which was back in the school for the first time since 2019. 

This event took place on the 8th  and 9th  of November, whereby we welcomed 6th  class students from the local primary schools to take part in some fun activities for  Science  Week. This was organised by  Transition  Year students who displayed multiple different science experiments for this event.

These ranged from theory experiments such as displaying surface tension to more practical experiments such as burning bubbles. It was the perfect way to begin celebrating Science Week and all involved enjoyed the two days.   

Every year, the school takes  advantage of  Science  Week  as  an opportunity to spread awareness of science in the school and to encourage students to think creatively about science.

Science teachers Ms Flynn, Ms Howlin, Ms Burke, and Ms McCormack, along with the assistance of some  Transition  Year students, organised many different activities to help spread positivity towards science in the school.

During the lunchtimes throughout the week, there were Stroop tests and a mystery box which contained a new mystery item every day.   

Senior students had the opportunity to listen to two guest speakers, William Brennan from NUIG spoke to 6th  years about his pivotal work in the area of Biomedical Engineering and  Dr Craig Slattery from UCD  spoke to 5th  years on the work he does in the area of toxicology. 

STEM challenges took place during lunchtime on Monday as students competed to see who could build the tallest tower using only sheets of A4 paper.

This was then followed by the 5th  Year  Science Quiz. On Wednesday the school has its   “Mad  Lab”  organised by Ms Flynn’s 6th  year Physics class, where junior classes could go and see some physics experiments in action. 

Thursday evening, three 6th  year teams competed with other schools  in  the annual ISTA  Science  Quiz in TUS, Athlone which was back for the first time in three years.    First and second year students completed a tallest tower competition using only marshmallows and spaghetti sticks. 

The week finished with 2nd  years going on their science trip to London.   

It was an enjoyable week for all involved and a special thank you to the  Science  Department:  Ms Flynn, Ms Howlin, Ms McCormack and Ms Burke for organising such a successful week.