Lauren McGuinness and Sarah Brady our two budding young scientists who are representing St Mary’s at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition were photographed today with the Minister of State for Disability Finian McGrath at the exhibition in the RDS. The minister complemented all the students for their magnificent work; their research, their scientific development and their extra energy.
Today, the girls had intensive interviews with several judges. Both Lauren and Sarah are looking forward to meeting up with their classmates from class Raphael tomorrow with Ms Nolan and Ms Browne. The class will attend the RDS exhibition to view the array of projects on display and to especially visit Laura and Sarah’s stand which is stand number 545.
The school community is absolutely thrilled for Lauren McGuinness and Sarah Brady from class 4 Raphael as they have been selected as finalists to participate in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. The exhibition takes place from Wednesday 10th January to Friday 13th January in the RDS and St Mary’s will be represented in the Social and Behavioural Science category. Well done to these students as their project has been one of the 550 projects selected out of a total of the 2,033 projects submitted for consideration into the competition this year. Their project which can be viewed at Stand 545 in the RDS is entitled ‘An Investigation into Televised Road Safety Campaigns, to see if they are having a lasting impact on Young Teenagers’ Attitudes Towards Drink and Drug Driving.’ The aim of their project was to analyse and test several factors and stimuli present in both national and international campaigns to compare their effectiveness with target audiences of young offenders. Their main student sampling cohort was senior cycle students. The data was obtained by using several different social science methods including quantitative questionnaires, qualitative interviews and visual sampling tests. The visual sampling tests were carried out by organising focus groups to get more in-depth responses and results. By carrying out this research, Lauren and Sarah made recommendations after they had identified the key factors that make an advert effective which will ultimately resonate with young viewers and make them think twice before driving under the influence of drink or drugs. Thanks to Ms Mulvey for her enthusiasm and dedication in mentoring Lauren and Sarah throughout the investigative process for this very prestigious event in the RDS!
