Mr Sheils and Mr Callaghan have been undertaking training in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teacher training programme run by the RDS (http://www.rds.ie/stem).

The programme is designed to deliver on creative and innovative ways of teaching and solving science problems.
Some of the workshops covered so far have been:

• Starting a science lesson – giving it a context
• Approaches to learning – using children’s ideas as starting points for imvestigations
• Making sense of a science investigation – observation and inference. There is not always a correct answer in science. Evidence based understanding.

The 5th and 6th classes have had some interesting investigations in examining the “best” paper towels on the market, circuits, ice balloons and “archaeological digs” in the classroom.
Our SciFest Winners would have enjoyed these investigations!