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ST. JOHN – Saralynn Davis has had “space dreams” most of her life. This spring she proved that astronauts, given a bio-dome, can probably one day grow beans on the planet Mars. Her award-winning science fair project will take her to the international science fair in Atlanta, Ga., next week.


“Sara has shown a lot of initiative,” said Michelle Braunberger, her science teacher at St. John High School. “She’s curious. She’s come to me with topics.”


When Davis, a junior at St. John High School, told Braunberger about her interest in Mars, Braunberger did some research online and determined that NASA has formulated a soil approximating the minerals found in Martian soil. Braunberger contacted NASA and obtained a small sample of that soil that Davis used to grow her beans, comparing and contrasting the progress of the Martian beans with beans grown in local soil.


“We made sure everything was the same,” said Davis. “The same amount of water, sunlight – same everything.”


There were differences noticed between the plants.


Davis said the Martian bean plants had thinner stems and fell over easier, but their root systems were thicker than the bean plants grown in plain old North Dakota soil. The Martian beans also had fewer veins on their leaves than Earth beans. She decided that Martian beans could be grown but would have to be staked so they don’t fall over. Davis examined the root structure of each of her plants and described them in her exeriment.


“As far as size wise, the Martian beans grew better,” said Braunberger, who said she would have liked to get a larger soil sample from NASA, but they were able to make do.


Davis has competed in the science fair other years and last year attended the international science fair in Albuquerque, N.M. She’s won a couple of college scholarships from attending science fairs as well as certificates, but she’s not sure yet where she’ll attend college. She’s interested in majoring in science or music.


Braunberger said there’s been a decline in the number of students in the region entering the state science fair, which she thinks is a pity. More schools seem to be doing the Science Olympiad instead. Braunberger said she can’t do both, but she couldn’t find 15 students in her small school to compete at the Science Olympiad this year, either. Kids are involved in a lot of different activities that sometimes prevent them from doing the science-related activities too. Davis is stretched pretty thin too, competing in FCCLA, FFA, music and speech and drama, but somehow she made it work, said Braunberger.  There were only three students who did science fair projects this year at St. John. Braunberger met with Davis to work on the project before or after school.


“She’s very interested,” she said. “I don’t have to harp on her. It’s been very, very easy to work with her.”


Braunberger said the educational experience is valuable for students and she intends to require all the students in her advanced biology class to do a science fair experiment next year.


Davis said she’s learned a lot about how to conduct an experiment and has developed good speaking skills because she had to explain her science experiment to judges at least 20 times during the state science fair.


“She had a lot of fun doing it,” said Braunberger. “That was the most important thing.” They will leave May 8 for the international science fair, which starts May 9 in Atlanta.

 

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