Science and technology

Lucan Community College has excellent science and technology facilities. This page outlines some of the activities that students have taken part in recently including including the Young Scientist and Sci-Fest:

Young Scientist Competition 2007

Sci Fest 2007 and BT Young Scientist Winners

Biology field trip to Glendalough

LCC Young Scientists 2007

While the majority of students are counting down the days until Christmas, 15 students from Lucan Community College have something extra to look forward to; The BT Young Scientist Exhibition.

The Young Scientist Exhibition will take place in the RDS, Dublin from the 9th to the 13th of January so while the majority of you will be suffering from post-Christmas blues, these fortunate fifteen will be living it up, science style, in the RDS.

The letters of acceptance for the lucky 15 arrived on Monday the 13th of November, heralding the beginning of National Science Week throughout the school.

A record 8 projects were accepted from Lucan Community College. To be accepted for the exhibition is a remarkable achievement in itself considering that only 500 projects were accepted out of the 1,278 that were submitted. The topics of the projects accepted range from measuring the viscosity of oil to investigating the effects of a magnetic field on seed germination.


This year, the young scientists of Lucan Community College have been selected to appear in a series of short feature films to be aired on Network 2. On Monday the 20th, the 15 students participated in screen tests carried out by the production company. The screen testing involved the students talking about their projects and their interest in science while being filmed. These short films will be aired in January while the exhibition is in full swing.

Not only may the students be given the opportunity to have their faces on television but they also received the honour of being invited to meet the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, when she visited the school for the launch of the Junior Cert science Interactive initiative on October 17th last.

All 15 students are hard at work, conducting their various experiments and surveys to ensure that their
projects will be finished before the Christmas holidays so let’s hope that Santa Claus rewards them for their efforts!

Many thanks to Ms A. Quirke and Ms Byrne for providing the young scientists with invaluable advice, support and assistance.

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Sci Fest 2007

Sci Fest is an annual science competition event hosted by I.T. Tallaght. The event took place last Friday (4th May 2007) and the students of Lucan CC were well represented in all catogories.

It was a beautiful day and the organizers laid on an open air barbeque for all involved. Sun and science were the order of the day. The students of LCC outdid themselves at the event and swept the boards with an incredible 6 awards.

The organizers also wished to thank Sharon Hickey and Joanna Butcher and Katie Maher who brought along their project. “MP3 Players and hearing damage” which came first in the Senior Physics section of the BT Young Scientist earlier on this year (January 2007).

Leanne Caulfield, Greg Copley and Joseph Eiffe won 1st place awards while Deirdre Swaine, Laura O'Dowd, Amy Bartley and Tara-Leigh White won 2nd place awards in different categories. The overall winner of the Sci-Fest 2007 was our own very talented Katie Maher with her project entitled ‘Monitoring the rotation of the sun from the movement of the sunspots’!

Katies prize consisted of a Waterford crystal trophy, a €100 voucher and best of all… an all expense paid trip for Katie and 50 of her classmates to travel to the W5 centre in Belfast next September.

Well done everyone – an exceptional year for Science in LCC.

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The LCC 5th year biology classes traveled to Wicklow National Park in Glendalough to study the area’s ecology. Arriving in horrible wet weather we were all in good spirits. At the centre we were all introduced to our guides who were to take us out for the day (poor people). We then made our way in groups of eight students, one teacher and one guide to a random study area at the base of the Glendalough Valley. Three groups of similar make up selected other random areas of land to study.

We set out a 10m² area using rope and bamboo sticks, this was to be our study area. Firstly we looked at the geographical make up of the area and what factors would effect plant growth in that area. Examples include direction of slope, moisture, human and animal effects, etc. Next we set out about selecting a random area on which to place our quadrant. This done, with the help of keys provided by our guide, we identified plants and coverage of this area. For example, leaf litter, grass, etc. Our plant study done, we looked for evidence of animals in the area. We found nuts eaten by red squirrels.

With the rain belting down on us we progressed to try our hand at various, methods of studying living creatures in the area. We used the pooter, beating tray and of course the old fashioned microscope. I myself managed somehow to suck an earthworm into our pooter! Lastly we took soil and water samples to test back in the lab. We packed up everything and headed back to the centre for about one o’clock taking a break then to dry up a bit and get some lunch.

The two biology classes now plan to return to the park in the third term to study changes in the habitat and conditions. From all on the trip thank you to all at Glendalough national park.

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