Government needs to fund agri-education properly

In the next seven weeks, politicians from all parties will turn up at your day looking for your vote. I know I'll be asking them all about their commitment to education.

It's worrying then, to see the effect that cutbacks are having on Ireland's agricultural development agency Teagasc and particularly on their educational remit.

Despite the Irish food industry having a bumper year, Prof. Gerry Boyle, Teagasc Director, says that they have had turn away 250 young farmers because they don't have the staff to train them.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Prof. Boyle explains the effect the governments moratorium on recruitment is having: "We had around 150 contract advisors, but they have all been let go. We are down to around 240 advisors from our previous level of 400.

"As for teaching and lecturing staff, you can get by without staff in some areas, but not without teachers...Agri is being treated differently to other areas in education. For the life of me, I don't understand that.

"We have had to turn away about 250 students due to the moratorium. While I recognise that there is a need to reduce numbers in the public sector, there is a need to ring-fence specialist roles.

"We are under-resourced in beef where applied research is concerned. We need a stronger genetics input. Plant pathology is a crucial competence in managing disease resistance, but we don't even have one plant pathologist".

All this, when Bord Bia is reporting how huge an impact food and agriculture had on the Irish economy last year. Food and drink exports was worth €7.9 billion to Ireland in 2010 and that figure is set to grow again.

Aiden Cotter, Bord Bia Chief Executive was upbeat in his assessment: "In a year in which the world’s population will reach seven billion, growth in global demand is set to underpin food markets well into the future".

If this, or any government is committed to a national recovery, they must realise that food and agriculture is already at the centre of that recovery. While savings in the public sector must be made, it is not in our long term interest to stop training those farmers will be part of that recovery. Maybe mention that to the politicians when they call.

Some intitial thoughts on the Hunt Report

The National Strategy for Higher Education document or the "Hunt Report", as it is known was published on Tuesday, January 11th.

The lengthy document covers a range of topics in the higher-ed sector; from access to third-level to standards in teaching and funding for the sector.

The 110-plus paged report, compiled by the Higher Education Strategy Group, led by Dr. Colin Hunt, was delayed for some months, although a draft version of the report had been in the public domain for some time.

So, what do I think?

Well, judging by the draft version and an early look at the final version, the document seems to have high aspirations, but the authors themselves recognise that much of the recommendations they make will be dependent on securing increased funding for the third-level sector.

That aside, the report makes a number of recommendations which are to be welcomed:

• Teaching and Learning - the report rightly emphasises the importance of appropriate teacher training for third-level teachers. The report recommends that ,"academic staff should make full use of the range of pedagogical methodologies available to them and be qualified as teachers as well as in their chosen discipline". As the authors of the report rightly point out; teachers at other levels of the education system require qualifications - from primary to secondary. Other professions such as medicine, dentistry, law and engineering all have rigorous standards and it is  not unreasonable that teaching staff in the third-level sector should also need to be suitably qualified.

• Funding - As unpalatable as it may be for some, there is now a growing recognition that some form of user-contribution is required to ensure a steady stream of exchequer funding for the sector. The report states that a requirement for students or graduates "to directly share in the cost of their education, reflecting the considerable private returns that they can expect to enjoy" is now "the only realistic option".

• E-learning - The report notes that conventional teaching methods "will increasingly be complemented by e-learning (including podcasting and online discussion groups), self-directed learning, problem-based learning, and collaborative projects.” This is due recognition for those in the sector who are pioneering the use of Web 2.0 technology in third-level teaching.

• First-Years - I've written previously about the problems students face in their first year in college when they are making the transition from the often rote learning of the Leaving Certificate to the very different culture at third-level. The Hunt report focuses particularly on the problems of first year, stressing that it should "serve as a 'foundation of learning activities entailing more enquiry-based formats and engendering employability and lifelong learning outcomes". The report specifically warns against over-specialisation in the early years of an undergraduate degree.

Whit the final version of the Hunt Report now published, its size will require some reading and analysis to see just what it is saying about third-level education in Ireland. From this early reading, it seems there is much that can welcomed in the report. However, as the authors recognise, there are significant funding issues which need to be overcome if all the recommendations are to be implemented.

James Burke Remembered - Cork skies to be lit up

The skies above Cork will be lit up in January as the city remembers a pioneer of scientific and technical education.

As part of the 'North Monastery 200' celebrations in the city, the work of Brother James Burke will be remembered with a modern-day laser re-enactment of a spectacular 1877 light-show which Burke created to demonstrate the potential of this new technology - electricity - for the city of Cork. [Details of the event at the bottom of this post]

James Burke was born in 1833 in Limerick City and attended the Christian Brother's School at Sexton Street in the city. He entered the Christian Brother novitiate aged 18 and was posted to the North Monastery, Cork in 1852. He eventually made his perpetual vows, aged 25, in 1857.

One of his colleagues at the 'North Mon' in the late 1850's and early 1860's was John Philip Holland. Holland was the man who invented the modern submarine based on experiments and research he did while in Cork. Burke was undoubtedly a huge influence on Holland during his time at the North Monastery.

Burke pioneered vocational and practical education in Ireland, basing his pedagogy on lessons learned throughout Europe at the time. He introduced subjects like trigonometry, navigation, physics and astronomy to the North Monastery for the first time and his methods were replicated across the Christian Brother Schools in Ireland.

This was at a time when even third-level education was reliant on the lecture rather than on practical experience for students. Burke's invitation to students to experiment for themselves with the large range of equipment and apparatus collected at the school was revolutionary for its time.

Despite suffering from medical problems throughout his adult life - he suffered from partial to near blindness and painful eye problems, he continued his work becoming Sub Director and eventually Director of the school and began to organise Sunday Science Lectures for the general public at the school and lectures in the Crawford Gallery in Cork City centre.

Through his friendship and contacts with industrialists throughout the region, Burke acquired funding for equipment and materials for the science department in the school - electric dynamos, gas engines, steam engines, lathes, agricultural equipment, geological, botanical and zoological specimens, etc.

By the time Burke died, educational authorities in Ireland were just beginning to realise the importance and influence of Burke's pioneering work in practical education. He had become internationally recognised for his excellence in scientific education and was locally acknowledged as being a man with the well-being and success of his students at heart.

Burke died in March 1904, having been struck by a horse and carriage in a tragic accident as he was crossing St. Patrick's Street, near its junction with Bowling Green Street. His death was met with a huge public outpouring of grief, with public bodies throughout the country expressing condolences. His funeral procession was described as being "like a king's" and he was buried in the grounds of his beloved North Monastery.

After his death, a marble bust of Burke was sculpted by John O'Connell (which is now positioned atop the building named in his honour).

Unfortunately, over time, much of the equipment and specimens which made up the bulk of Burke's collection at the school has been sold or disposed of. With the onset of World War 1, much of the industrial machinery and radio equipment was removed by the British Army.

Some material remains, including some excellent zoological specimens. It would be wonderful to see all of this material collected in one place within the school, to form a museum in Burke's memory. Perhaps in 2011, when the North Monastery celebrates 200 years in Cork, Brother Burke's memory can be honoured in such an appropriate fashion?

Brother Burke Ceremony

To celebrate the jubilee of Pope Pius IX ,in 1877,  Burke connected a battery of 120 callan cells to a massive lamp that he had mounted to the front wall of the Monastery (now sadly demolished) and he flashed beams of electric light into the sky from the grounds of Our Lady's Mount. This was two years before Thomas Edison was credited with inventing the light bulb.

To celebrate the work of Brother James Burke, the North Monastery Past Pupils Union, in conjunction with the 3 schools on campus will hold a Bro. Burke Commemoration event on Friday January 14th, starting at 4.30pm in the North Monastery Secondary School Hall.

Brother Donal Blake and Kieran McCarthy will give talks on Bro. Burke's contributions to education and science and his work in Cork.

The event is sponsored by John Mullins, CEO of Bord Gais and a past pupil of the school.

A flag-raising ceremony will be held on the night with the school's oldest past pupil and the highlight of the night will be a re-enactment of Bro. Burke's 1877 lighting display using modern lasers. According to a spokesperson for the organisers, "Weather depending, (the display) should be visible from all over Cork City and surrounding areas".




Much of the biographical information in this post is taken from a more complete biography available here (pdf).
Thanks to the North Monastery Past Pupils Union for use of images from their extensive archive.

North Mon 200 & Cork Scientists

This evening marks the launch of a publication to mark the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the North Monastery CBS in Cork City.

The book, entitled North Mon 200 is available to purchase in all good bookshops and online at : http://www.localbooks.ie/shop/product_info.php?products_id=6903

The school is the alma mater of a long list of distinguished past-pupils including former Taoiseach Jack Lynch and former Cork Lord Mayors Terence McSwiney and Tomas MacCutain.The 'North Mon' also has an impressive scientific track record and teachers who have worked there include Br. James Burke, the renowned educationalist and science teacher and John Philip Holland who developed one of the first ever submarines.

Burke was a Christian Brother who taught at the North Monastery in Cork City and was renowned for his work in developing practical scientific and technical education in Ireland during the late 19th century. Amongst his achievements includes bringing electric light to Cork in 1877, two years before Thomas Edison invented the electric bulb. He was a pioneer and advocate for practical, scientific education in Ireland and represented Ireland at the World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri in 1904.

Writing in The Glamour of Cork, Daniel Lawrence Kelleher (1919) describes an aging Burke as:

"This big, slow-footed, heavy, smiling, half-blind old man [who] has put into practice the most enlightened methods of education.
"Behold him in his class, a combination and anticipation of Montessori, Pearse and a hundred others, a curious wheedling old fellow, the father, uncle and guardian of his pupils, and no master at all in the narrow sense; or another time at the Trades Hall talking to workers back to childhood by his overflowing interest.
"A teacher out of a million, his lesson a preparation for life rather than for any examination test, his shining spirit a light always for any who saw the flame of it, alive".

Holland, a Christian Brother colleague of Burke at the North Monastery, is credited with developing the first submarine to be commissioned by the US Navy (USS Holland), and the first Royal Navy submarine- the Holland 1.

Many thanks to North Monastery Past Pupils Union for the use of images from their collection.



Soil microbes make great art

PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology have launched an important new series of articles and resources for open access life sciences education.

"The Education Series combines the philosophy of the open education movement with the unrestricted access to scientific papers and data afforded by open-access publishing to present innovative approaches to teaching critical concepts, developments, and methods in biology" says the editorial in this months edition of the open access journal.

"By enabling students to use the same tools researchers use and to explore real data, such approaches are especially valuable—it's widely acknowledged that engaging students in active research fosters their enthusiasm for and interest in science.

By mining the promise of open education and harnessing the collective imagination and talent of PLoS Biology readers and contributors, the Education Series will create a virtual biology education library."

The first article in the series demonstrates how natural products derived from the soil bacterium Streptomyces can be used as biopigments with the hope that the work can inspire others to explore the potential of biopigments in art, industry and the classroom.

Since the spread of Streptomyces on an agar plate is determined by the boundaries of the plate, the agar can be used as a canvas, where the spores of Streptomyces can be used as paint and applied in brush strokes.

The paintbrush is first sterilised completely before being used to apply spores from another petri dish to the freshly prepared 'canvas'. If multiple strains are used, multiple colours can be achieved.

The image shown here: "Elvis Lives!" was painted on R5 media plates using S.coelicolor.

The authors (or artists?) believe that this endeavour has "the potential to lead us toward a fertile nexus between art and science" and that it is an "outstanding tool to engage students of varying academic interests across multiple age groups".



References:

Charkoudian, L., Fitzgerald, J., Khosla, C., & Champlin, A. (2010). In Living Color: Bacterial Pigments as an Untapped Resource in the Classroom and Beyond PLoS Biology, 8 (10) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000510

Kerfeld, C., & Gross, L. (2010). Open Education, Open Minds PLoS Biology, 8 (10) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000508

Well done Mallow, but what about the rest of the country?

It's great news for Mallow, Co. Cork that it is to become a national centre of excellence for the teaching of maths and science. However, this news, reported by the Irish Examiner this morning, begs the question as to why just Mallow puts the spotlight on science and maths when everyone now accepts that an increase in science literacy is urgently needed as part of our economic recovery?

The town is to benefit from a range of technologies being developed at University College Corkwww.ucc.ie, Cork Institute of Technology and the National Centre for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching and Learning (NCE-MSTL) at University of Limerick.

A four-year project in Mallow's schools will see staff from the national centre work to increase the uptake of science and maths subjects, improve student achievement at all levels, up-skill science and maths teachers in the town and foster collaborative teaching between the schools.

All this is excellent, of course, but I would have presumed this was happening anyway. All interested parties should be increasing student engagement and achievements with science subjects. All schools should be working together on such initiatives and all teachers should be receiving the appropriate training to do their jobs to the highest level.

What is interesting about this project is the involvement of so many agencies and bodies all focused on the same goals. Intel Investor Director and Chair of the Advisory Board of Innovation Fund Ireland Damien Callaghan has explained that Mallow is now to become a "lead school district nationally for researching and piloting initiatives and developments in the teaching of maths and science" saying that "the problem-solving skills inherent in excelling at these subjects are the core competencies of entrepreneurs and employees of the future".

Reaping what you sow: Irish education spending

University College Cork: climbed 23 places to 184th

The latest QS World University Rankings are out and they make for mixed reading for the country's third-level institutions. While TCD and UCD both dropped down the rankings, UCC and NUIG have improved their ranking since last year.

Trinity College Dublin is still Ireland's highest ranked university in 52nd place worldwide, but this is down from 43rd last year. University College Dublin remains second highest in Ireland at 114th place, but this is again down from 89th place in 2009.

On the plus side, NUI Galway increased its ranking from 243rd place, up to 232nd. At University College Cork (still ranked third in Ireland), the worldwide ranking was improved from 207nd place in 2009, up to 184th place this year.

The rise of UCC is one of the high points of the ranking system. Annual rises since 2006 have seen the university rise from 386th position to 184th.

The results come as the latest OECD (Organisation for Economic Development) reports confirm that the government spends just €12,631 for every third-level student. This figure is below that in 30 other developed countries studied.

When measured against GDP, Ireland's total spend on education is just 4.7%, which places it in 25th place out of 28 OECD countries. This is significantly less than the OECD average of 5.7% and below the EU19 average of 5.3% of GDP.

What is most disturbing about the OECD data is that the results are based on data from 2007, before the huge raft of cutbacks ordered by the Government were implemented.

Concerning too is the news that, at primary-level, just 4% of pupils time is spent on science education. This compares to 29% spent on reading and writing (including Irish). The time spent on science in primary schools here is just half of that in other EU countries.

Combined with this bad news for science, just one-eight of pupils' time at primary-level is spent learning maths. This is the lowest of all countries measured. And we wonder why maths achievement at Leaving Certificate level is so low!

One wonders whether Irish universities can sustain such rankings given more cutbacks planned for next year.

Science points up but we still haven't got the point!

The headline development in this year's CAO points seems to be the large rise in points for science-based courses at Irish third-level institutions.

To name just a few: Biomedical Science (a joint UCC, CIT programme) has gone up to 410 points - a rise of 80 points on last year.

Biological & Chemical Sciences at UCC has gone up 25 points to 375. Biomedical Engineering at DCU has increased by 45 points; Manufacturing & Design Engineering at DIT is up by 75 points; as is Computing, also at DIT.

Despite all the talk of a decline in maths standards, Mathematics at TCD is up 70 points. Biotechnology at NUIG is up 40 points; Electronic Engineering at UL is up 60; and Medical Biotechnology at IT Sligo is up 40 points.

'the overriding theme...is for increases across the sciences'This is just a snapshot and a more complete analysis at a later date would be helpful. Needless to say though, the overriding theme of the cut-off points is for increases across most of the sciences.

Although there will undoubtedly be people who will be dissapointed today, with courses that would have been attainable in previous years moving beyond their reach, those who teach and promote science will be pleased.

Despite the arguments against the points system, it is fair because it treats everyone the same. It is a supply and demand system and the points today tell us that the average student about to pass through the college gates are (academically at least) of a higher standard than previous year's.

This doesn't mean they are going to make better third-level students however - perhaps they've scored higher because they've learned everything by rote and can't think for themselves? Neither does it mean they are going to make better scientists than previous cohorts.

What it does mean is that there is a greater interest in the sciences and that leaving cert students (and their parents!) are seeing the sciences as a real option for an interesting, rewarding and successful carreer.

The pillars of industry who have been wheeled out in recent weeks and months to scare kids into studying science will do absolutely nothing to encourage greater interest in sciences.

What is needed is the development of new and exciting curricula for the sciences at primary level throught to third level.

A report to the Nuffield Foundation in the UK by Jonathan Osborne and Justin Dillon of King's College London in 2008 made some very interesting points on this very subject.

In Science Education in Europe: Critical Reflections, the authors recommend that "The primary goal of science education across the EU should be to educate students both abouth the major explanations of the material world that science offers and about the way science works. Science courses whose basic aim is to provide a foundational education for future scientists and engineers should be optional".

'there should be two types of science course'In other words, there should be two types of science courses: one to teach everyone the basics of the scientific process and another to specifically train students to be working scientists.

Of course, this would free educators to use the first type of course to develop students with an appreciation and knowledge of the purpose, process and products of science; while reserving the detailed minutae for a later in-depth course.

Another outcome of the leaving certificate reuslts is the by-now-yearly 'Boys do better than girls' headline. I won't even begin to discuss this one but it may be interesting to look at some data from the above mentioned Nuffield Foundation report.

In a survey of schoolchildren in England, boys and girls were asked what they would like to learn about in science class. The top 5 from each camp proves, in pretty stark terms, that a catch-all approach, especially at junior levels, won't do.

Top 5 for Boys:

Explosive chemicals
How it feels to be weightless in space
How the atom bomb functions
Biological and chemical weapons and what they do to the human body
Black holes, supernovae and other spectacular objects in outer space.


Top 5 for girls:

Why we dream when we are sleeping and what the dreams might mean
Cancer- what we know and how we can treat it
How to perform first aid and use basic medical equipment
How to exercise the bodt to keep fit and strong
Sexually transmitted diseases and how to be protected against them

Does gender bias affect physics teaching?

According to a recent US study, students think males are more knowledgeable than females when it comes to teaching physics.

Amy Bug, a (female) physicist at Swarthmore College, and her team trained four actors (two male and two female) to give a 10-minute, scripted physics lecture which was filmed. 126 real physics students were then shown a lecture by one of the four actors and their opinions surveyed.

On average, the male 'lecturers' received higher scores then the females. While female students gave slightly higher scores to female 'lecturers' male students rated male 'lecturers' vastly better.

When the students were asked if the 'lecturer' had a "solid grasp of the material", if they were knowledgeable, or good with equipment, there was a distinct gender bias with both male and female students rating the male 'lecturers' more highly.

However, when asked whether the 'lecturer' "teaches in a way that rally helps students learn", is well organised or interacts well with students, there was evidence of a distinct own-gender bias, with females rating female 'lecturers' most highly and males preferring male 'lecturers.

A note of caution is required here though: How do we know that the bias shown is not a result of the relative skills of the actors to play the part of a physics teacher?

You can view a report on the study here.

 Scientific American look at this study in their 60-Second Science podcast.

Communicate Science @ Science.ie

My recent guest blog on Frogblog.ie has been picked up as news piece by Science.ie - a website produced by Discover Science and Engineering (DSE).

DSE aim to increase the numbers of students studying Engineering and Science; to promote a positive attitute towards careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to foster a greater understanding of science and its value to Irish society.

You can read the Science.ie article here.

You can read the original guest post on the Frog Blog here.

Why is the sky blue? and why do some parents not know?

Just a third of parents regularly talk to their children about how science works in everyday life. That's according to a survey conducted by the Shell Education Service (part of the well known oil company).


The press release for the survey describes it as "only a third of parents" discussing science with their kids. Frankly, I think thats pretty good going - I mean, what child wants to "regularly" discuss science with their parents!

A huge 99% of parents surveyed on the parenting website Mumsnet said they recognised that talking to their children about science makes a "massive" difference to their progress at school.

During the survey, parents were asked a series of science questions to measure their science know-how. The questions included: 'how does a cruise ship float?' and 'why do your fingers go wrinkly in the bath?'

Over half (52%) of parents answered all these questions correctly.

Shell say that a lack of confidence is behind parents reluctance to discuss science with their children citing excuses including feeling under-qualified due to poor grades at school (18%), not understanding science (15%) and a lack of available information (12%).

The survey also identified the questions which parents most dread being asked by their kids. The top five are:

Why is the sky blue? (29%)
Why does the car work? (21%)
Why can birds fly? (15%)
What is water made of? (10%)
How do fish breathe? (9%)


Shell have launched a booklet for parents and children which includes some fun experiments to try at home including growing your own crystals, creating a home version of the spin dryer (I know, how bizarre!) and building an explosive soft drink fountain.

James Smith, Chairman of Shell UK, said: "It's great news that parents can do more to help their children learn science than they realised. And learning science by trying out experiments is fun for children and their parents.”
You can download the Shell Activate booklet here (pdf).

So, why is the sky blue? You can find out here and find out what a Co. Carlow man had to do with it!

Communicate Science @ The Frog Blog

"A typical science practical today will see the student presented with a prepared methodology which they perform in order to gather data which will (hopefully) confirm a piece of knowledge which has often been explained to them previously in the classroom. There needs to be a more ‘authentic’ practical experience to augment these necessary ‘foolproof’ experiments and a piece of independent, though well supervised, research may be the answer."

Read more about "When is an Experiment not an Experiment?" in my guest post on The Frogblog.

I'm a scientist, get me out of here!

As I posted recently, the public want scientists to communicate more. This is one of the more inventive ways of doing it. Based upon the reality TV format, students get to get to know and quiz a panel of working scientists before voting for their favourite and evicting the rest.

In Search of Greatness

There has been much debate in Irish scientific circles lately as to why no scientists had made it into RTE's much hyped list of the Greatest Irish People. I've made the point that instead of bemoaning the fact that the public have snubbed us scientists in favour of some worthy and some (arguably) less worthy individuals, Irish science should be asking itself why it has come to this?

Why don't the general public consider Irish scientists worthy of this title? Do they know enough about them? Do they really value their work?

On the back of this assault on our collective egos, Science.ie launched a poll to find the Greatest Irish Scientist. Robert Boyle (of Boyle's Law fame) was the most popular with almost two thirds of the vote (32.2%). William Rowan Hamilton (21.2%) and Ernest Walton (17.8%), a mathematician and nuclear physicist respectively, came in next.

The full top ten is as follows:

Science.ie poll results – top 10 Irish scientists:

1. Robert Boyle, who turned chemistry into a science
2. William Rowan Hamilton – the algebra he invented in 1843 helped to put a man on the Moon more than a century later
3. Ernest Walton, whose pioneering work began the atomic era
4. Kathleen Lonsdale, the X-ray crystallographer who revealed the structure of benzene and diamond
5. Dorothy Price, instrumental in the fight against tuberculosis, introducing the BCG vaccine to Ireland in the 1930s
6. John Tyndall, the first person to answer the question “Why is the sky blue?” successfully
7. Harry Ferguson, who revolutionised farming when he invented the modern tractor
8. Sir George Gabriel Stokes, for his important contributions to fluid dynamics, optics and mathematical physics, including Stokes’ theorem
9=. Fr Nicholas Callan, who invented the modern induction coil, still used in car ignitions
9=. Charles Parsons, inventor of the steam turbine
9=. William Thompson, who formulated the first and second Laws of Thermodynamics

No room it seems for George Boole, Br. James Burke or Br. John Philip Holland.

Boole was the first Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College Cork (now UCC), where the library is now named in his honour. He invented Boolean logic which formed the basis of modern computer logic and makes him, in hindsight, a founder of modern computer science.

Burke was a Christian Brother who taught at the North Monastery in Cork City and was renowned for his work in developing practical scientific and technical education in Ireland during the late 19th century. Amongst his achievements includes bringing electric light to Cork in 1877, two years before Thomas Edison invented the electric bulb. He was a pioneer and advocate for practical, scientific education in Ireland and represented Ireland at the World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri in 1904.

Writing in The Glamour of Cork, Daniel Lawrence Kelleher (1919) describes an aging Burke as:

"This big, slow-footed, heavy, smiling, half-blind old man [who] has put into practice the most enlightened methods of education.
"Behold him in his class, a combination and anticipation of Montessori, Pearse and a hundred others, a curious wheedling old fellow, the father, uncle and guardian of his pupils, and no master at all in the narrow sense; or another time at the Trades Hall talking to workers back to childhood by his overflowing interest.
"A teacher out of a million, his lesson a preparation for life rather than for any examination test, his shining spirit a light always for any who saw the flame of it, alive".

Holland, a Christian Brother colleague of Burke at the North Monastery, is credited with developing the first submarine to be commissioned by the US Navy (USS Holland), and the first Royal Navy submarine- the Holland 1. The first image in this post shows Holland standing at the hatch of a submarine.

Thanks to North Monastery Past Pupils Union for permission to use photos from their collection. Expect to hear much more about both Burke and Holland in 2011 when the North Monastery schools celebrate their bicentennial.

Where's our Minister for Science?

With Brian Cowen's changes to the cabinet makeover we've seen lots of shifting deckchairs but science seems to have been forgotten.

The former Department of Education and Science has been renamed under a new minister. The Department of Education and Skills will now be headed up by Tanaiste Mary Coughlan. The former minister at that department, Batt O'Keeffe moves to Enterprise bring with him responsibility for the third-level research budget.

The decision to effectively demote science from the cabinet table does little to bolster the government's aim of building a 'knowledge-based society'. Without proper recognition for the role science plays in our economy, the green-shoots of prosperity will be slowed even further.

Brian Cowen should restore the term science to the department's name and give us a Minister of Science while he's at it.

Irish Education needs to go High Tech

Well, he came, he talked and talked and now he's left us to ponder his message. 


Craig Barrett, former Chairman of Intel was in Ireland recently to talk to the Royal Irish Academy and various other media outlets about Ireland's economy and how he sees education as one of the key solutions to other current woes.


Speaking to a crowd of around 600 people in Dublin's Mansion House, Barrett proclaimed that for Ireland, the era of foreign direct investment is over and that our economic recovery will come from indigenous growth and a real investment in new ideas at home. Barrett singled out our universities for particular mention saying that they need to act a launchpads for high-tech start up businesses.


Encouraging Irish universities to look to the Berkley, Stanford and MIT models for business start ups, Barrett pondered, "Ireland needs to ask itself how hard is it to start a company? How entrepreneurial is your economy?"


Since retiring from Intel in 2009, the former Stanford engineering professor has been championing the cause of education as a course out of current global economic strife. Barrett is also head of the Irish Technology Leadership Group, a Silicon Valley-based Ireland support organisation made up of Irish and Irish-American business executives. The organisation's aim is to assist Ireland's technology sector expand into he US.
 
Speaking to Forbes magazine in 2008 Barrett summarised his feelings on education and in particular his views on the role played by technology in education.
"I'm convinced that the expansion of information and communication technology (ICT) can transform education. ICT has the power to trigger a shift from knowledge acquisition, which limits learning to rote memorization and parroting back facts, to knowledge creation, which involves 'learning how to learn'. The latter cultivates skills that are vital for today's knowledge economy, including critical thinking, collaboration, analysis, problem solving, communication and innovation".

In the same article Barrett mused, "By promoting technology innovation--whether through science competitions, higher education research labs or public-private partnerships that meet local needs--we can have a far-reaching and sustainable impact on the future while addressing the thirst for knowledge that fuels innovation around the globe".

Craig Barrett's contribution comes at an interesting time for an Irish education system bedeviled with problems due to funding cutbacks, the moratorium on employment in the public service and the not unrelated prospect of increased industrial action. 

Inevitably when we talk about science education in Ireland, the topic of maths at second level rears its ugly head. This is probably due to the high levels of students who take maths at Leaving Cert level (51,905 students in 2009). 

Una Halligan, Chairperson of the government's Expert Group on Future Skills Needs is right when she says that there is no one solution to decreasing failure rates and increasing take up of honours maths at Leaving Cert level. Speaking at a recent conference on maths education at Trinity College, Dublin she emphasised the need for  improved professional development for teachers; the development of more interactive, imaginative approaches to teaching maths and the use of  incentives for higher level maths, with bonus points at CAO time.

Although Una Halligan was responding to difficulties in the education of maths, the same problems are seen across the sciences and similar solutions are required. For example, the teaching of biology by teachers who have degrees in physics or chemistry can lead to poor results.

In his speech to the Royal Irish Academy (reported by Digital21), Craig Barrett outlined a ten-point plan for economic revival, a few of which have implications for science education and our universities in particular:

Basic education - “You need to state your goal to be the No 1 in the PISA rankings for maths.” 

Teachers – “Every education system is only as good as its teachers. (Some) 35pc of Irish teachers don’t have maths competency. Teaching is one of the last professions to pay on the basis of performance. You need to look at paying teachers on the basis of their performance.” 

21^st-century teaching skills – “You teach by rote and don’t take advantage of interdisciplinary skills, like critical thinking. Also, many countries are now in a position to adopt one-to-one computer-based training.”

More maths and science majors at third level – “The CAO is flawed. Your future relies on a critical mass of maths and science skills. Fix it.”

Universities – “They need to become wealth generators, make them look like Stanford.”

Infrastructure – “In terms of broadband and technology in schools, Ireland is only average. You need to be excellent.”

Hopefully everyone involved in Irish education will consider these points because whatever your opinion on Craig Barrett, I think we can all agree that a good education system is the way out of this economic mess we're in.