How do spoken fairy tales affect plant growth – and does language play a role? LIS student Nele (Gr. 4) explored this unusual question in her contribution to the ‘Jugend forscht junior’ competition, and impressed the jury in Leipzig so much that she was awarded first place in the biology category.
Science meets Fantasy
In her project, Nele investigated whether fast-growing plants such as cress and magic beans react differently to stories read aloud, depending on the language in which they are told. The young researcher examined whether plants grow better when stories are read to them in seven different languages.
‘I wanted to find out whether the sound patterns of different languages have different effects on plant growth,’ explains Nele. And indeed, the differences in growth were measurable – depending on the language and background noise. ‘I examined growth in seven different languages, in complete silence and with everyday noises in a children’s room,’ she says. ‘There were clear differences in growth.’
The result: language made a difference. Some languages promoted growth significantly more than others – even compared to the silent control group. Although no biological law can (yet) be derived from this, the experiment impressively demonstrates how curious, creative and eager to experiment young researchers are when approaching complex issues.
With her innovative idea, Nele is one of 32 young researchers from Saxony who have won the state competitions.
If you are curious about more creative ideas from this year’s winners, an overview of all the award-winning projects can be found at jugend-forscht-sachsen.de.
‘Jugend forscht Junior’ in Saxony
Jugend forscht Junior (formerly Schüler experimentieren) is the entry level of the well-known MINT competition Jugend forscht. The aim is to get children and young people interested in science and technology at an early age.
In Saxony, participation takes place via one of the three regional competitions (East, North-West and South-West Saxony). The best projects qualify for the state competition – there is no national competition.
As with Jugend forscht, the projects are divided into seven subject areas, ranging from biology to technology.
