In January 2020, The James Kane Foundation provided a small grant to the Royal School Armagh to support a science project. The school used the grant to invest in a digital weather station, which could measure pressure, temperature, wind speed and direction. Over 150 year 8 and year 9 pupils participate in the project every year, within their existing science classes.
Mr W Fowles, teacher at the school explained “At the beginning of each class a group around 4/5 pupils take the weather monitor outside to record barometric pressure, temperature and wind speed. This information is displayed on a weather bulletin on a noticeboard in the corridor outside the Science laboratory and entered in the database. Pupils are encouraged to watch and listen to TV/radio to see how their data supports the weather forecast.”
The pupils have also been analysing the data collected using ICT graphing techniques (Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets) which is also an important scientific technique for them to learn and practice. This project has, and continues to, improve pupils overall interest in science.