CONSUMER
Irish boys to chat with NASA scientists
12-11-2003
by
About 30 boys in Birr, Co. Offaly will engage in a live videoconference with US space agency NASA to discuss the students' investigation into the solar system.
The event, supported by Shannon Development and involving the Sixth Class at St. Brendan's Boys National School, is set to take place at about 3pm on 14 November at the Birr Technology Centre. During the link up with NASA, the pupils will be asked questions about their recent research into the solar system. The activity has been timed to correspond with Science Week, a national initiative designed to promote the sciences and technology to students in Ireland.
According to Niall Kelly, Sixth Class teacher at the school, the link-up to the famous American space agency is the culmination of much work by the students over the past few weeks. "It's been a multimedia experience," he explained, adding that the students had been forced to grapple with concepts and information across a variety of disciplines, including astronomy, mathematics, literacy skills and even history.
But one of the biggest aspects of the project included the construction of an enormous 57-metre scale model of the solar system, including the Sun and the nine planets. The model, so large it had to be constructed outdoors, included an 8-metre Sun made of a parachute, with 13-millimetre Pluto marking the edge of the representation.
The undertaking was made possible through the NASA Johnson Space Center Distance Learning & Education project, a scheme that serves to help students learn more about space and astronomy and includes videoconferences with NASA representatives after days or weeks of research on the part of pupils. Though many schools in the US, as well as in England and Wales, have been part of other "NASA Distance Learning Outposts," it is thought that St. Brendan's is the first Irish school to be involved.
Shannon Development's role in the project has been the supply of meeting rooms with Web conferencing capabilities, as well as broadband Internet access for both the NASA hook-up and pre-event research, according to Mike McMahon, development manager in the Birr Technology Centre. Shannon Development had hoped to organise similar Science Week events in all of its five "Knowledge Network" facilities in the region, but was unable to due to time constraints. The non-profit industrial development organisation said that it is already considering other Science Week events for next year.
Launched in May, following a EUR3.8 million investment, the 21,000 square foot Birr Technology Centre is home to five technology companies with more expected to settle in during the months ahead. The facility sits next to the River Camcor and the building is a former grain and sawmill dating back to the 17th century.
Birr itself is already steeped in astronomical history and one of its features is the "Leviathan of Parsonstown," a telescope that until 1917 was the biggest in the world, a title it held for 70 years.
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