Maths Modelling
On Friday March 31st, Professor James Gleeson, Professor of Industrial and Applied Mathematics at the University of Limerick (UL) and Co-Director of the Mathematics Applications Consortium for Science and Industry (MACSI), returned to Clongowes for his last visit of this academic year. Professor Gleeson had already visited us in October and January to help us with our mathematical models, which we had developed bit by bit throughout the year when we met every Friday night under the guidance of Mr Stephen O’Hara.
Professor Gleeson began by giving a presentation, which included a number of tips for making a strong mathematical presentation, such as ensuring that the presentation has an opening and conclusion and how best to address the audience. After this, he spoke with each of the groups about any final questions that they had about their models and presentations, which they will be making when they travel to the University of Limerick after Easter. As the day concluded, Deputy Headmaster, Mr Martin Wallace came down to the Physics classroom to make a presentation to Professor Gleeson to thank him for giving up his valuable time to help us with a project which is truly one of a kind in Ireland, and which offers a great insight to students as to what it might be like should they choose to study a STEM subject (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at thirdlLevel.
One of the points which Professor Gleeson emphasised in his presentation was that practice is key in order to make a presentation with confidence. Therefore in the evenings leading up to our trip to UL, we will meet in Mr. O’Hara’s classroom to run through our presentations and also to take questions from Mr O’Hara and the other students in attendance. These practised run-throughs should ensure that any possible issues with the presentations will be addressed and that everyone is confident and familiar with the slides that they will be presenting.
On behalf of all those who took part in the Maths Modelling project this year, we would like to sincerely thank Professor Gleeson for giving up his valuable time to take part in this project and for hosting us in UL, and also to Mr O’Hara for the massive amount of time and enormous effort he has put into the project throughout the course of the year.
