NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest

Google Code-in is a global online contest introducing 13-17 year olds students to open source software development. It is a great way for students to gain real world experience working on an open source project and gain confidence in their skills while having mentors available to help guide them through the contest. Contest launches on Monday 7th December.

Some of the organizations creating tasks for students to work on in the contest include OpenMRS (medical records systems for developing countries), Systers (community dedicated to getting more women involved in CS), Wikimedia, RTEMS (operating system used in satellites, medical devices robots) and 10 other open source organizations dedicated to introducing young minds to open source development.

The contest will start for students on Monday, December 7th. Students complete tasks of their choosing in the following categories: coding, documentation, UI, outreach, quality assurance, training and research. Prizes include digital certificates, t-shirts, hoodies, and 28 grand prize winners will win a trip to Google headquarters in California, USA next June for themselves and a parent or legal guardian. 

You can learn more about the details of the contest on our blog post:  http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2015/11/introducing-google-code-in-2015.html and the contest site g.co/codein.

Over the last 5 years we have had 2233 students from 87 countries complete tasks in the contest. 

Congratulations to Young Scientist Winners who won the top prize in Europe. Liam McCarty and John O’Callaghan are students in Kinsale Community School. Their project entitled "The Development of a Convenient Test Method for Somatic Cell Count and it’s Importance in Milk Production" won first prize of €7000 in the European contest.

Congratulations to Young Scientist Winners who won the top prize in Europe. Liam McCarty and John O’Callaghan are students in Kinsale Community School. Their project entitled "The Development of a Convenient Test Method for Somatic Cell Count and it’s Importance in Milk Production" won first prize of €7000 in the European contest. 

A total of 3 awards (2 special awards and 1 category award) were picked up by Irish students attending the annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), which is the world’s largest high school science research competition in the World.

STEM Transitions – bridging the gap between primary and post-primary education. The science event will be held on Thursday, 2^nd October at St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra from 6.00 – 9.00pm. If you would like to get involved please contact Tugba Aysel: tugba.aysel@dcu.ie

The National Initiative in STEM Education and Practice (N-STEP) is an initiative of 3U, a partnership that combines complementary strengths of Dublin City University, NUI Maynooth and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.  St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra is leading one of the NStep projects and invites primary and post-primary educators with an interest in the teaching and learning of Science to participate in one of its events.   We are keen to address the challenges teachers and students face in transitioning from primary to post-primary education within Science subjects.   Our aim is to create a community of practice to identify positive solutions, share expertise and provide a network of support and action.   

Why participate?  This initiative will give teachers the opportunity to

• Meet other practitioners
• Harness expertise
• Have their voices heard
• Become part of a growing community of educators
• Access support
• Shape the future of transitions from primary to post-primary

The Mathematics event will be held on Thursday, 9^th October at NUI Maynooth 7.00 – 9.00 pm.