Building for the Future Display Award 2012A study of the effect of Video games on the body.A study of the effect of Video games on the body.

Two groups of students from Transition Year represented Castlerea Community School in the BT Young Scientists and Technology Exhibition in the RDS Dublin this year.
Dylan Carlos (Group Leader), John Caulfield and Gavin Callaghan entered a project titled “How do video games affect our bodies? For this they conducted an investigation into the effect playing various games on the Xbox had on heart rate and blood pressure while. This group was entered in the Biological and Ecological Section and was a source of great interest for many of the participants and visitors especially parents. “They found that when the volunteers played a computer game for five minutes, their physical fitness seemed to influence how their bodies reacted.
“In healthy, fit people, the heart rate started off at a healthy level and spiked up about 10 or 15 beats per minute and had normalised by the end again. In people who weren’t as fit, they saw the opposite effect: the heart rate first dipped and then came back up.
The judges said it was a very topical project and it was a problem that needed to be highlighted.
The second group were Cormac Guthrie (leader) with team members Joseph Henry and Eoghan Flanagan. Their project was called “Building for the future”. They entered the Technology Section.
The aim of their project was to design buildings that could withstand natural disasters like earthquakes, flooding and hurricanes.
They built and tested various structures and then built an earthquake simulator to test the structures. They also designed a flood prevention system and a way of helping to prevent houses collapsing in hurricanes.
From their research they discovered that if building regulations were followed in First World countries, buildings and foundations should be able to withstand the force of natural disasters. They decided to focus more on designing natural resistant/damage limitation houses for Third World countries like Haiti. The group were complimented on their project by the judges who were very impressed with its practical applications. They were also impressed with the experimental methods used and the models made e.g. the earthquake simulator and the model house incorporating all their building methodologies. They were also lauded for their fundraising efforts for building houses in Haiti, the anniversary of which occurred during the competition in the RDS. They received a display award for their endeavours.
The remainder of the transition year class attended the exhibition on the Friday and thoroughly enjoyed the event.