A group of primary school pupils in Loughrea won €1,000 for their school at the Galway Science and Technology Virtual Festival last weekend.
The group of 17 4th class students from Gaelscoil Riabhach in Loughrea won first prize at the Primary School level of the festival’s ReelLIFE SCIENCE Video Competition.
The students, along with their teacher Brian Ó Meacháin, took home the prize for their Irish language video ’An Croí (The Heart).
Primary school runners-up were Scoil na nAingeal Naofa from Boyle, Co. Roscommon, while Kilcoe National School from Skibbereen in Cork, finished third.
The ReelLIFE SCIENCE competition was created in 2013 by Dr Enda O’Connell of NUI Galway to encourage young people to engage with science and technology by producing short educational videos.
Since, over 16,000 young people in more than 500 schools and groups around the country have engaged with the competition.
Congratulating all of the participants, Dr O’Connell said” “We were hugely impressed with the standard of this year’s videos, particularly the ingenuity and creativity shown by the young filmmakers, often in challenging circumstances.
“Their hours of effort and passion for science was clear to see and made it a very difficult task for the judges. Well done to everyone who took part.”
Dr Ruth Freeman of Science Foundation Ireland said, “We are delighted to support this initiative, which cleverly utilises digital technology to develop science literacy and creativity, at a time when these skills are most needed,”
“ReelLIFE SCIENCE encourages young people to connect with science and technology in their everyday lives, and to bring that knowledge to a wider audience, while promoting current Irish scientific research and development.”
All of the winning videos can be viewed at www.youtube.com/ReelLifeScience and more
