.
Moyderwell pupils meet with the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, at the Primary Schools Science Fair as part of the BT Young Scientists Exhibition at the RDS today.
MOYDERWELL Mercy pupils got a chance to show a project they have been working on for months at the R.D.S. Primary Science Fair today in conjunction with the B.T. Young Scientist Exhibition in the R.D.S, Dublin.
It’s the culmination of much effort for the fourteen students from 6th Class who researched and presented individual projects on How the Basic Structure of the Bicycle Has Changed Over Time’ Bicycles at the end of October last.
This group progressed to working on a team project; ‘The Science of Cycling and Why are students in our school not cycling to school?’ with the School Primary Science Fair teachers.
A moyderwell pupil explains the project.
The project involved scientifically investigating the various subsystems of the bicycle and how these work together in a Transport System. Student and Parent surveys were created and analysed.
Data from Nov/Dec student and parent surveys show that:
• 87.8% of the 148 students surveyed from 3rd to 6th Classes own a bike, while 89.2% indicate that they are confident cyclists, but only 2% travel to and from school by bike, while 22.3% walk.
• 77% of the 148 respondents indicate that if there were safer routes to and from school, they would like to cycle to school regularly.
• 67.7% of the 99 parent respondents from 3rd to 6th Class indicate that they are able to cycle confidently, but only 5.1% are themselves daily commuter cyclists.
• 61.6% of parent respondents indicate that route safety is the main barrier to allowing their children cycle to school, followed by distance and weather concerns.
A Moyderwell pupil explains the project.
It is the intention of Government to radically change public attitude to cycling by 2020 (National Cycle Policy Framework (2009-2020), with schools being a strong focus Moyderwell Mercy Primary School wishes to lead this ‘drive’ by increasing the number of student cyclists in 3rd to 6th Classes from 2% in November 2016 to 10% by June 2017, and an additional 5% thereafter until June 2020. At that point we intend to review our progress.
Census Results for 1986 and 2006 there was an 83% decrease in the population of primary school children commuting by bicycle (from 23,635 to 4,087 nationally , 17% of the 1986 figure.).
Kerry County Council has responded to this in the Tralee Transport Strategy (2011-2020) by stating “we will supply safe cycling routes to all primary and secondary schools and third level colleges by 2020’’ (page 23).
The fourteen students from 6th Class, who are exhibiting today at the R.D.S. Primary Science Fair met with Kerry County Council Engineer, Mr Eamon Scanlan in December and presented their findings.
They called for to reduce Heavy Goods Vehicles , calming-traffic measures, provision of safer junctions, provision of safe cycle lanes, extension of and safe-surfacing of existent cycle-ways along ‘cycle-priority areas’ mapped in the Tralee Transport Strategy (2011-2020)/Section 8.
It is stated on page 7 of the Tralee Transport Strategy (2011-2020) that ‘’schools will be a strong focus…we will support the provision of secure cycle-parking at all destinations of importance to cycling’’.
Mr Scanlan was very accommodating and walked the children through the town to outline Phase One Programme of Works in the centre of town. He committed to helping the school meet their ambitious cycling targets.
