Open days focus on the appliance of science

THE University of Limerick is offering students from secondary schools around Munster a hands-on opportunity to prepare for their Leaving Cert science exams.

This week, the Department of Life Sciences at UL is opening up its state-of-the-art facilities for 400 students doing the laboratory practicals based on the Leaving Certificate biology curriculum.

Jacqueline Kennedy, chief technical officer of Life Sciences at UL, said: “Many biology Leaving Cert students throughout the country do not get the opportunity to actually carry out and practice all of the experiments included in their course work and a lot of secondary school laboratories simply don’t have the facilities to allow this.

“Our life science biology laboratories are only two years old and have the most up-to-date experimental equipment to facilitate in-depth research.”

The department’s technical team, as well as postgraduate students and final year BSc Ed students will be present in the laboratories to assist students throughout the week and instruct them in the experiments.

Biology teacher Mick Lougnane, of St Flannan’s College in Ennis, said: “It is a great opportunity for our students to really get to grips with the practical experiments which will be examined in the Leaving Certificate. They are far more likely to understand and remember the steps of each experiment having had the opportunity to actually carry it out practically.”

The students will also be given information on UL programmes offered by the Life Sciences Department and the Faculty of Science and Engineering at UL.