A number of post-primary schools around the country will benefit from a new programme aimed at making maths and science more accessible to students from September.
Based on methods acquired during week-long courses in the US this June or August, six teachers are drawing up lesson plans for Junior and Leaving Certificate students relating science to aspects of daily life.
The participating teachers will introduce the new methods into their classrooms from September, and the completed plans will be available online to teachers from November.
The programme is the latest instalment of an initiative launched by Ibec's pharmaceutical branch, Pharmochem Ireland, four years ago to encourage students to study science and maths. Education executive for Pharmochem Ireland, Mark Glynn, is head of the initiative and works closely with the Irish Science Teachers' Association.
"Our aim is to get as many kids in the door as possible so we relate science to the everyday aspects of life they're interested in, like cinema and TV, and get them hooked," Mr Glynn said.
He attended a course on forensics in Connecticut with Dr Declan Kennedy, the course co-ordinator in science education at UCC and author of the Leaving Certificate chemistry textbook.
Two teachers, one from Greenhills in Tallaght and another who teaches in various schools in north Dublin, travelled to Cape Cod, Massachusetts for a course in microbiology.
Tom Bolger, from the Junior Science Support Services, attended a course on environmental science in Keystone, Colorado with teachers from Coláiste Lorcain in Castledermot, Co Kildare and Tallaght Community College, Dublin.
The sample lesson plans will be similar to a pilot transition year programme launched in Sandford Park secondary school, Ranelagh, in Dublin three years ago. According to Mr Glynn, 50 per cent of Sandford Park's student body now study science.