Freshman Pre-AP Biology students Lauren Stanton, Corinne Daise and Jolie Dobosz spent the summer in unusual fashion: researching a science project.

Their collective work over the summer and throughout this school year culminated in the presentations of their projects to the District 3 meeting of the Kansas Junior Academy of Science on Saturday, April 22 at Johnson County Community College.

Two weeks later, Daise and Dobosz presented their projects again at the State meeting at Wichita State University, both receiving high scores from the judges.

Assisted by Biology teacher Kevin Crisp, the three students designed their own experiments relating to a specific scientific problem that they found interesting.

“I helped them with experimental design questions and then they set it up and carried it out and then all that was left was to do the full scientific write-up, the manuscript,” Crisp said. “I helped them through that process and the editing of it to make sure it was a good finished product.”

Stanton researched the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus-based fertilizers on the growth of algae, while Daise investigated what effect different types of music had on diastolic blood pressure and Dobosz examined how salinity levels in water affected the growth of snow pea plants.

“To me, that’s the ultimate [as a teacher],” Crisp said. “It’s not just biology knowledge, but learning … and being able to carry out the process of what science is.”