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Shellabrations as Moville student
lifts BT award
12.01.15
MOVILLE Community
College is celebrating a 'crackin' achievement after
one of its own took silver in the prestigious BT
Young Scientist of the Year Awards in Dublin.
Jack McDermott, a fourth year pupil at the school,
took second spot in the Biological and Ecological
category with his investigation into whether the
shape of an egg affects the hatch rate in chickens.
The 17-year-old was the only Inishowen student in
the finals, held at the RDS last week.
Jack has an incubator at home in Moville and used
his own hens for the project, in which he tracked
their genetics.
He wanted to know if there were differences between
individual hatches and set about dividing the eggs
into two groups – regular-shaped eggs with no
defects and irregular-shaped eggs with defects. |
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Jack McDermott from Moville pictured
at the BT Young Scientist competition 2015. Also in
the photo is Jack's science teacher Rachel
McGuinness, who is also a past pupil of Moville
Community College, and Fianna Fáil leader Michéal
Martin. |
Jack said he hoped his
findings – that regular-shaped eggs hatch better –
would improve the hatch rate in chickens.
The teenager said he was "over the moon" with his
award.
Proud teacher Rachel McGuinness said Jack's unique
project could prove highly valuable especially in
disadvantaged communities reliant on agriculture to
survive.
“Jack’s project is very interesting and he came up
with the idea himself. Looking at the bigger
picture, his research findings could aid charities
such as Bothar - who supply families with chickens -
in ensuring they have a more successful hatch,” she
said. |
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