CURIOUS MINDS | Knocknagree NS

Curious Minds 2023/24

Curious Minds is part of Science Foundation Ireland’s Education and Public Engagement Programme, which aims to increase interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among students, teachers and members of the public.

This year we are working towards the Silver Award.

Science

We participated in Science Week in Knocknagree N.S in November 2023. Lots of fun activities took place in the school over the course of the week. The overall theme this year was "The Human".

Each class carried out a hands-on science investigation.

Junior & Senior Infants

This class focused on the strand- materials. They investigated how colours can mix together.

First & Second Class

This class focused on the strand- living things and examined their fingerprints.

Third & Fourth Class

This class also focused on the strand- living things and explored how our lungs work.

Fifth & Sixth Class

This class focused on the strand- materials and held a "Show & Tell" Event out in the yard for the whole school during Science Week. (See photos under Show & Tell Event below)

Lastly the pupils in 3rd & 4th class participated in the two Science Week shows that took place online during Science Week.

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Technology

Pupils from 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th class collaboratively participated in online Scratch coding workshops during Science week. These workshops were organised by MTU in Tralee as part of the Kerry Science Festival. The pupils really enjoyed the coding and created excellent projects using Scratch which can be seen in the photos.

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Engineering

Renewable Energy Talk

Thanks to the two local engineers- Karl & John from the company Vestas who visited our school and spoke to all the classes about renewable energy. They talked about the benefits of wind energy and the work they do to maintain the wind turbines at one of the local wind farms. It was very interesting and the children really enjoyed it especially watching the wind energy demo using the snap circuit.

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Famous Landmarks

The pupils in 5th & 6th class were very busy planning, designing and constructing famous landmarks from around Europe using recyclable materials.

Have a look at some of the fantastic creations! The children presented their projects to the whole school afterwards. Well done to all the pupils!

Maths

We participated in Maths Week here in Knocknagree N.S in October 2023. It was a fun week with lots of extra maths activities happening in the school each day.

Maths Games

The whole school participated in some maths games e.g. snakes & ladders at the junior end of the school and number games using cards at the senior end of the school. The children partnered up with children from different classes for this activity.

Maths Quiz

5th & 6th class participated in an online maths quiz.

Maths Trail

The whole school were divided into teams and they completed a maths trail around the school.

Find the Hidden Numbers Around the School

The whole school were divided into teams and they had to follow the clues to find the hidden numbers around the school.

Maths Challenges

1st & 2nd class participated in some maths challenges on the whiteboard from the Maths Week webpage.

The children received Maths Week certificates at the end of the week for all their hard work.

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STEM Show & Tell

The pupils in 5th and 6th class held a "Show & Tell" event during Science Week. We brought the whole school outside and the pupils were divided into groups to present and explain their science investigations to the rest of the school.

This class also presented their famous landmark engineering projects to the whole school before the Easter break. They explained why they chose their landmark, how they came up with the design and what materials they decided to use. The children in the audience were given the opportunity to ask questions after each presentation. It was a very enjoyable experience.