Cooper Bollinger Danielson cares about worms. He submitted the final paper for his Advance Science Research project this week, in preparation for Friday’s presentations. Bollinger Danielson’s question was how do chemicals such as fertilizers affect the health of earthworms and plants in the ecosystem? He collected the data over the first semester, analyzed it, and finished it by writing a paper and eventually presenting it in competition (the date is still unknown.
Students in ASR apply to get into the course last spring and completed a project over the course of the first semester investigating a question, then wrote scientific papers on their findings. To attend Advanced Science Research students had to apply to get into the class and have a teacher recommendation. Bollinger Danielson’s project was highly visual; he could see the plants growing: “It was really fun to work with the other kids in my class and look at the progress along the way,” he said.
When coming up with the question, he was interested in the kind of chemicals applied to organisms he does not often think about.
“After the competition, I will be doing some more research just on the byproducts that I have, but I found that too much Miracle Grow had a negative effect on plant growth if they germinated slower,” he said.
Sometime in February, the students will go into a google meet, and the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair judges will interview them about their paper. This Friday, ASR and CSCI students present their projects during tutorial in the science rooms. Presentations are open for any student who wants to view them and are encouraged to stop by and ask questions.