Transition Year students and their teachers Ms. Mariam Larkin and Ms. Ita O’Donovan thoroughly enjoyed attending The National “Express Yourself” Conference which was held in the University of Limerick on the 20th March from 10am-1pm. This conference marked the end of the first year involvement in the FP7 funded project, Chain Reaction: A Sustainable Approach to Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) which focused on the professional development of teachers towards IBSE.

IBSE is a specific teaching methodology where the focus is on students inquiring into their own learning and is seen an inductive approach to the teaching of science with an emphasis on the experimental process.

The conference involved secondary school students from four different schools sharing their experience of IBSE in the classroom and is viewed as a celebration of their work to date. The school was delighted to take part and students really enjoyed the methodologies. The University of Limerick, specifically the EPS and the NCE-MSTL, is the Irish Partner in this European funded project.