'These students aren't learningscience - they are scientists'

At an Intel science fairheld in Pittsburgh lastweek, 1,500 of thebrightest young mindsfrom all over theworld demonstratedthat world-beatingingenuity is not the solepreserve of the experts/ f ■ HESE STUDENTS aren't

I learning science - they AREI scientists."I These are the words of Wendy

_1_ Hawkins, executive director ofthe Intel Foundation, as she spoke about thefinalists of the Intel International Science andEngineering Fair 2012.

The fair, which took place last week inPittsburgh, saw 1,500 bright young mindsfrom 68 countries taking part.

From cancer treatments and alternativeenergy generation to quantum tic-tac-toe andhow caffeine affects sea urchins, this year'sprojects displayed extraordinary complexityand intellectual curiosity.

"The ability to convert science into real-world problems they can do research on ismeaningful," says Hawkins.

"They are making real, concretecontributions to science. This is not trivial byany stretch of the imagination."

The overall winner of ISEF 2012 Gordon E.Moore Award was 15-year-old high schoolstudent Jack Andraka, who developed anon-invasive pancreatic detection tool.Andraka's research is literally life-saving; hehas created a dip-stick sensor to test the levelof pancreatic cancer biomarker mesothelin inblood or urine.

His method has more than 90 per centaccuracy and can detect pancreatic cancer atan earlier stage than current tests. Not only is

it far less expensive than current tests, it isalso 28 times faster and over 100 times moresensitive.

The Irish have also been enjoying successas ISEF 2012. This year four students broughtthree projects to the fair, two of which wonawards. Ruairi O'Neill (16) and Eoghan Flynn(14) of Freshman Blackwater CommunitySchool in Waterford were among thoseawarded second place in environmentalmanagement with their project on alternativefuel generation from end-of-life plastics.

The Waterford students have generated aunique "polyfuel" by processing used plastics.This polyfuel is cleaner burning thanconventional diesel and energy efficient inoperation.

Some of the gas and petrol produced can befed back into the system to provide theheating required for breaking down theplastic so nothing is wasted in this incrediblygreen recycling process.

The duo came up with the idea when theysaw how much unrecyclable plastic wasmaking its way to landfills. They thought itcould be reused and so began their research.The unit for creating this polyfuel was literallymade from things they found lying around thehouse: an empty gas cylinder, an empty paintcan, bits of piping and the secret ingredient,kitty litter.

Their hope is that homes in the future willhave the ability to recycle plastics andgenerate their own fuel using similar units.

Henrik Bruesecke (19), formerly of StColumba's Comprehensive School, Glenties,Co Donegal, and now a student of computerscience at Trinity College Dublin, won twoawards for his work on optimally managingmultiple computer processors. In addition toplacing fourth in the category of computerscience Bruesecke also took second prize fromthe Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers at Intel's Special AwardsCeremony.

Bruesecke's project is impressivelyadvanced and would not look out of placeamong MA and PhD studies. This might leadyou to believe that he had some help, but he infact taught himself to code from scratch as ahobby and this project (using two differentprogramming languages) is the culmination ofhis curiosity. He also begins an internshipwith Intel this summer.

The third Irish project was from BT YoungScientist winner Aoife Gregg (16) fromLoretto College, Dublin. Gregg's work

involves cryptography and letter frequenciesin the Irish language to create a tool that candate Irish documents within 100 years. She isalso working on applying this to otherlanguages.

Gregg says she was inspired by previous BTYoung Scientist winner Sarah Flannery,whose work on the Cayley-Purser Algorithmwon her global recognition and a bestsellingbook In Code -A Mathematical Journey.

Meanwhile the teachers who accompaniedthe students oil their journey to ISEF 2012were by no means resting on their laurels.Running in conjunction with the competitionis an event called the Intel Educator Academy.

Educators, policy advisers and governmentofficials from around the world meet todiscuss Stem (science, technology,engineering and maths) education policy andlook at ways to improve and update sciencecurricula.

Sheila Porter, founder and manager of theSciFest science competition, which has beenrunning in Ireland since 2006, was inattendance to give a talk oh establishing andmaintaining a network of science fairs. Shespoke about the importance of linkingsecond-level science to university level as wellas to government and industry.

"The science curriculum would benefitfrom being linked to third-level courses andfrom moving forward to meet 21st centuryskill requirements," she said.

Porter and her colleagues are also keen tohighlight the benefits of integrating regionaland national science competitions like SciFestand the BT Young Scientist into sciencecoursework.

Currently students taking part in thesecompetitions can use their project as part ofJunior Certificate Science Coursework B.

Mari Cahalane, head of the BT YoungScientist and Technology Competition andalso taking part in the educator academy, saysthat awareness of this needs to be raised sothat inquiry-based learning is linked closer tothe curriculum.

Intel Foundation director Hawkins says thebiggest problem with Stem education is that"we teach science as a string of unrelated factsthat need to be regurgitated".

Perhaps, with ground-breaking discoveriesin cancer detection emerging from15-year-olds, we will start to change how wenurture young minds and prepare thescientists of the future.

Ruairi O'Neill andEoghanFlynn of Freshman BlackwaterCommunity School inWaterford, who were amongthe prizewinners (above)at the Intel InternationalScience and Engineering Fair2012, which took place lastweek in Pittsburgh