Second annual SciFest@TCPID student exhibition

Posted on: 11 June 2018

How music can affect your mood and how to make the perfect paper aeroplane were among fascinating projects showcased at the second annual SciFest@TCPID event recently hosted by Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities (TCPID) at the School of Education.

SciFest@TCPID is an initiative developed by TCPID in association with Abbott Ireland, which aims to encourage a love of science, technology and maths among students with intellectual disabilities. Abbott already work with SciFest to run science competitions throughout Ireland to promote active, collaborative, inquiry-based learning and to provide a forum for students to present and display their scientific investigations.

The SciFest@TCPID exhibition in 2017 was the first time that the programme specifically included an exhibition for students with intellectual disabilities. As part of the programme Abbott Ireland provide a team of mentors to work with TCPID students on their science projects over a six week period. This year the Abbott team, led by Ciara Hayes, worked with participants Adam, Luke, Stephen, Carly and Jessica.

Project topics showcased at the exhibition were ‘Music Through Bones’, which looked at how music can affect your mood; ‘AerLuke’, which looked at the origins of aircrafts and included an experiment on crafting the perfect paper aeroplane and ‘Advancement of Soccer from Pele to Ronaldo’, which looked at the differences in soccer and soccer equipment over the past 50 years.  Other projects were ‘Singing Science’, which examined the vocal range differences between men and women and ‘#MoodFood’, which looked at food flavours and included a blind taste experiment involving a number of different flavoured foods.

This year’s exhibition event was held in Trinity’s Science Gallery and was attended by TCPID business partners, Trinity staff as well as students’ families and guests. The event was opened by Dr Kevin Mitchell, Trinity’s Associate Dean of Undergraduate Science Education and by Professor Damian Murchan, Head of the School of Education. The students were all presented with ‘Science Excellence’ awards by SciFest and Abbott Ireland.

Dr Murchan commented: “We are so proud of the work that has been completed this year by the five first year students who participated in SciFest@TCPID 2018. They have shown true commitment and huge enthusiasm and the resulting projects show real creativity and imagination. The SciFest exhibition showed in a small way what is possible when people are given the opportunity to fulfil their true potential.”

Cover photo: Dave McPhillips of The Coronas with participant Adam Farrelly