BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2020

Anna and I were delighted to be highly commended for our project which proves that reading improves your ability to problem-solve. Please see below our key findings from our research. It was great to meet so many other amazing students at the RDS and for our school to win the award for the best science school in Ireland for 2020. Thanks to all who visited our stand, collaborated with us and helped us in our research.

SciFest 2020

We brought this same project to the SciFest 2020 competition, and were thrilled to receive the Science Foundation Ireland Best Project Award, which enabled us to compete at the National SciFest online.

Our project essentially used surveys and problem-solving tests (conducted on 665 students across Ireland) to determine whether there was a link between reading for pleasure and problem-solving skills. We discovered there is a link! Those that stated, in the survey, that they read frequently, scored much higher in the problem-solving test!

Our key research findings:

Reading improves your problem solving skills.

Those who read sci-fi have better problem-solving skills but only 5% surveyed read sci-fi.

14-16 year olds read less than any other age, with only 9% reading everyday.

Those who read took longer to complete the test, which we believe is as a result of better concentration.

Our Project Results Summary:

  • We have proven that reading for pleasure does improve your problem-solving skills. This result is statistically significant to more than a 99.99% confidence level.

  • Those who read science-fiction scored the highest, closely followed by non-fiction and fantasy. This is also statistically significant to a 99.94% confidence level. Only 5% of participants read science-fiction, 3% read non-fiction and 16% read fantasy. Interesting to note that 37% read fiction, yet those who read fiction scored lower than the above three genres.

  • 11-13-year-olds read more frequently than any other age group. 39% of this age group read every day, while only 9 % of 14-16-year-olds read every day. This is also statistically significant to a 97.71% confidence level.

  • The amount of people reading online news increased with age, with 11% of 11-13-year-olds reading online news and 18% of 17-19-year-olds reading online news. This is statistically significant to more than a 99.99% confidence level.

  • Those who read more frequently took longer to complete the test. We believe this is on account of a better ability to concentrate. This result is statistically significant to more than a 99.99% confidence level.

Conclusions:

  • We have proven that reading for pleasure significantly improves one’s ability to problem-solve.

  • The genre of book one read also impacts their ability to problem-solve. Those who read science-fiction scored the highest, closely followed by non-fiction and fantasy, yet the amount of people reading these genres is concerningly low.

  • Those who read took longer to complete the test, which we believe is as a result of better concentration skills.

  • Those who read are more likely to flourish in new Junior Cycle subjects, which place a particular focus on problem-solving. Their problem-solving ability will also help them to thrive in the STEM sector and make a positive change in society.

  • The older age groups, from 14-19 years of age, read less often and read more online news then the younger age group of 11-13 years. 39% of 11-13-year-olds read every day, while only 9 % of 14-16-year-olds and 22% of 17-18-year-olds read every day

Percentages:

  • 32% read for 5-15mins at a time, less than 2% read for 3hours+ at a time

  • 37% read fiction while only 3% read non-fiction, one of the highest scoring genres

  • 34% read rarely, only 22% read everyday

  • 25% of people scored the average score of 6 in the abstract-reasoning test, 38% scored below average while 37% scored above average

  • 52% of 14-16-year olds read rarely while only 11% of 11-13-year olds read rarely

  • 18% of 17-19-year olds read online news, whilst only 3% of 11-13-year olds did

  • 39% of 11-13-year-olds read every day, only 9% of 14-16-year-olds read every day

  • 40% of 14-16-year olds read for only 5-15 minutes at a time, this is huge in comparison to the 23% of 11-13-year olds who read for only 5-15 minutes

Recommendations:

To encourage reading in order to improve problem-solving we can:

  • Introduce a reading class in school

  • Ensure more collaboration between schools and libraries

  • Promote reading on social media

  • Introduce Book Cloud which has been trademarked in 2019

  • Run a reading campaign targeting 14 -16 year olds

    Please feel free to contact us to find out more