As part of the Festival of Professional Learning organised by the JCT Science Team a live event was held on Monday, March 27th 2023. The theme of the event was “Are Bioplastics a Solution to Traditional Single-Use Plastics?”
Mary Immaculate Secondary School was one of two schools chosen to host this event. During the event there was live streaming between our school and a school in Dublin where several students made the bioplastic from potato starch. Toward the end of the hour, the students heard from a number of guest speakers.
Among the guest speakers were Ella Enright and Áine Kelly who spoke about their BTYSTE project entitled “How much plastic is washed up on our shores?” Other speakers included Dr. Joao Frias who works in GMIT Galway on bioplastics and Dr. Nóirín Burke who is the person who oversees education in Galway Atlantaquarium. They both talked about the effect of plastics on marine life and what are bioplastics and are they a solution.
Ella and Áine then went to Fanore Beach and recorded an interview on their project. That recorded interview will then be used at a 2nd event for teachers on Wednesday 29th March 2023. At this event the same 2 guest speakers will speak as well as Dr. Patrick Kirwan who has set up the ISSN.