BTYSE: Laurel Hill students look at the science behind sleep

LAUREL HILL Secondary School FCJ has one project featuring in the BT Young Scientist exhibition.

Titled “The effects of the time of day and chronotype on cognitive performance”, it has been developed by two transition year students, Caoimhe Hennessey and Ellie Hackett, who look to discover more about students' sleep schedules.

The project aims to investigate the impact of chronotype and time of day on cognitive performance. Chronotype is defined as your body's natural inclination to sleep at a certain time - or what most people understand as being a morning bird or a night owl.

An experiment group consisting of transition year students first completed a test to determine their natural chronotype.

Then they completed both reaction and stroop tests at different times of the day.

The results were analysed and have shown some correlations between time of day, chronotype, reactions and memory.

Young Limerick panellists shine at disability seminar

The two young scientists are looking at how these correlations may have implications for the students themselves and how they may also be used in relation to school start and end times in Ireland.

Other possible implications include the effect of times of exams, and times specific subjects are taught, while the data may also help teachers plan ahead with students.

Their science teacher, Aisling Crowe, has been facilitating the project with the two students, who have been working on this project since September when they entered their school science fair with the same project.

“All of us at Laurel Hill FCJ are very proud and excited about Caoimhe and Ellie sharing their research with the scientific community in January and wish them the best of luck in the competition,” Ms Crowe said.