2014 Press Releases
BEES knees for TY students
Caroline O’ Mahony, M.I.C.C. Dunmanway is just one of many students taking the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) Transition Year Programme.
You can read all the blogs here.
"What an amazing week! We started on Monday by getting an induction tour of BEES and throughout the week we did various practicals and got lectures on ecology, geology, and zoology and plant science.
My favourite thing on Monday was the Ecology practical. In pairs we got a sea urchin and we then put two different types of materials into the water at equal distance to see which it would go towards. We then covered four to see if light had an impact. On Thursday when we checked them the sea urchin had gone towards the food. We also learned all about sea urchins, what they eat, where they live etc. During the day we got the visit the museum which had lots of interesting stuff like a two faced kitten, an elephants tooth and a dolphin embryo.
On Tuesday we had an ecology/ zoology lecture and practical, we did bird ringing and did a plant science lecture and practical. I particularly enjoyed the plant lecture and practical because I learned that plants are just as sophisticated as animals if not more. The bird ringing was also very cool. We caught seven birds and we were shown how to tag them, measure their wings and weigh them. We saw the difference between the various types of birds and we were also shown how to tell if they are male or female.
Wednesday was very exciting because we went up to main campus. I was amazed at the size of the library and it was really interesting to learn about the history of the university which I actually thought would have been boring. It was great to look around and see all the fantastic facilities UCC has to offer. I am defiantly going to this college!
On Thursday we travelled to the Eureka Centre up at the main campus. We learned how to test which blood type someone was and that was really interesting (It was artificial blood). We also did experiments on oxygen and how the lungs worked. In the evening we got careers talk and each group did a project on the different aspects of BEES. The most valuable thing I learned during this was that if you choose to do a course in any aspect of BEES, you have lots of options open to you or you also have alternatives in which you can use your science degree.
I can’t believe how fast the week went. We found on Friday about how media and science are connected and how important media is to science. We also talked about GM food which I really enjoyed because it has become such a political hot potato in recent years.
I enjoyed the whole week so much but the highlight for me was the practicals. These were all really interesting and I could understand everything from seeing it happen. I would highly recommend this programme to anyone interested in science because it gives you a great insight into different areas of science and you get valuable information on courses and careers. I would like to thank Grace Cott who ran the programme and organized everything very well. It was a great experience and the highlight of TY so far for me!"
For further information on future programmes, see http://www.ucc.ie/en/bees/outreach/typ/