Testing ground

By Leslie McCartney, of The Montana Standard - 03/07/2007

Hamilton eighth-grader Ashley Schrammeck does her English class reading while waiting to be judged Tuesday during the Regional Science and Engineering Fair under way in the Montana Tech HPER complex.

Seventh-grader Madison Dauenhauer lives at Georgetown Lake and wondered what could happen if the lakeside becomes crowded with many more homes — and their septic systems.

“There’s a lot of new development going on and there are big mansions across the lake,” she said Tuesday.

So Dauenhauer, who attends Fred Moodry school in Anaconda, decided to study the lake’s nitrate levels. She spent hours testing nine different spots — helped by her dad who took her out on the lake on a snowmobile and helped her drill test wells through the ice.

She found that a significant increase in nitrates could lead to an increase in plant growth or an algae bloom.

“Septic systems could affect the lake and it could affect our well,” she concluded.

Dauenhauer’s project was one of 400 projects on display for judges at the 26th annual Montana Tech Regional Science and Engineering Fair Tuesday. Students from 17 counties in fifth through eighth grade participated after winning at their home schools.

“We are real happy with the quality,” said Amy Verlanic of Tech who helped coordinate the fair.

Problems taken from real life seemed to be the common theme at the fair, where students tackled problems such as how magnesium chloride — which is used to de-ice roads — affected cars, or what metals are found in the fur of Butte dogs.

For Taylor Herzog of Bozeman, science was purely practical.

“I really wanted to find something that applied to life,” the seventh-grader said.

Her science project examined paper towel absorbancy.

“Brawny was the best,” she said.

East Middle School seventh-grader Victoria Von Bruening put Butte’s tap water to the test. She said drinking tap water made her throat dry. At her home, her family uses a water filtration system and her testing found higher levels of chloride and bromide, she said.

“I would use a water filter,” she said.

Grace Ganoom, a seventh-grader from Ophir School near Bozeman, focused on social science. She tested teachers to see if they treated students differently depending on the students’ gender or whether they were a high achievers or average.

Teachers agreed to take part, although they weren’t told what the experiment was about. Students tried teachers’ patience by being purposely disruptive to check reactions.

“One of our teachers was biased but I can’t say all teachers are — we’re only a school of 150 (students),” she said.

Stephanie Conrad’s experiment came from her family’s frustration in trying to grow grass in sandy soil at their home on the Flat. An eighth-grader at East Middle School, Conrad grew grass using a grow light, which simulated the sun’s rays from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. She used different types of soil and added amendments, such as fertilizer and manure to test groups.

The results didn’t surprise her.

“Sandy soil cannot support an adequate amount of grass,” she said.

— Reporter Leslie McCartney may be reached at leslie.mccartney@mtstandard.com