5th-year students from 10 schools visit TU Dublin in Tallaght
Nearly 400 students from 10 link schools visited TU Dublin from Tuesday to Thursday (10-12 January) as part of a well-established collaboration between the Access Office and Mathematics and Statistics and other disciplines called the TU Dublin (Tallaght) Access Office Mathematics Initiative (TAOMI).
The events were organised by Ciaran O’Sullivan of the School of Mathematics & Statistics with the invaluable support of Aisling McGlinchey (the School’s Mathematics Engagement Coordinator), Paul Robinson and many, many others from across several Schools and Faculties and the Access Office. The first purpose of these visits is to show secondary students the level of mathematics they might expect in their first year at college, with an emphasis on the applied nature of the mathematics being taught. The second purpose is to give students an insight into the breadth of disciplines of study that are available at TU Dublin.
The fifth-year students from the schools were bused to TU Dublin, Tallaght for a set of workshops consisting of a one-hour mathematics activity session followed by a one-hour engineering/business/computing/science/digital media activity session so that they could get an insight into the range of courses offered by TU Dublin. Students were provided with refreshments in between the workshops in the main canteen so that they also experience that aspect of student life.
The students participating were from Killinarden Community School, Mount Seskin Community College, St. Aidan’s Community School, St Kevin’s Community College, Deansrath Community College, Collinstown Park Community College, Caritas College, St Dominic’s Secondary School, St Johns College and Kylemore College. Initial feedback from the schools has been very positive. For example, one teacher emailed to say:
thanks again for the brilliant workshops yesterday, the students thoroughly enjoyed themselves and had a lot of questions and good discussions after we left
highlighting that workshops seem to have the desired effect of prompting interest among the students.
A wide range of staff from across many disciplines on the TU Dublin campus contributed to the successful implementation of these on-site visits and their commitment to widening participation is critical to the success of this initiative. The School would like to thank everyone involved, the secondary schools and their pupils for visiting and for the enthusiasm shown by staff and participants alike.