TUCSON - If fifth-grader Yuri El Boujami had designed the Phoenix Mars Lander, he would've traded the spacecraft's robotic arm for a laser.

Instead of digging for ice like the robotic arm on the lander scheduled to touch down on Mars this weekend, the student's laser would melt it.

"That way, you could see what's in the water," said Yuri, an 11-year-old student at Imago Dei Middle School who, along with the rest of the small private school, has been studying the UA-led Phoenix Mars Mission.

The school, which has fewer than 20 students, has been on a mission to Mars for weeks, following the lander on its 422 million-mile journey.

Located on North Sixth Avenue near East University Boulevard, the school is just a few blocks from where University of Arizona researchers will control the Mars research.

The Episcopal school provides a tuition-free education to students who meet federal guidelines for receiving free and reduced-price meals.

With the research occurring in their backyard, Imago Dei instructors have seized on the opportunity to teach about space and science while also encouraging students' imaginations to run wild as they discuss whether life could have existed on Mars.

In addition to drawing sketches of spacecraft and the Martian surface, the students have been learning facts about the mission and the geology of the red planet.

Nashoni Cowell, another fifth-grader, knows the risks of the mission but is hopeful that Phoenix will land safely and find water.

I don't think it will find flowing water, but maybe solid or gas water," said Nashoni, 10.

The mission has helped to bring science to life for the students, allowing them to connect with their studies on a deeper level, said Karima White, who teaches math and science to the students in a combined class.

"They get to watch it happen, and, by making it relevant, they're more interested in learning," she said.

Additionally, the students have drawn on other aspects of their education as they've been asked to solve such problems as how people might try to colonize Mars.

"They've talked about the need for oxygen, plants and pollination, pulling in learning from all parts of science," White said.

To make Mars habitable, fifth-grader Cepheus Martinez would bring Earth's oxygen and atmosphere to the planet through a long tube.

Cepheus, 11, would build bubbles around both planets and push oxygen from Earth to Mars.

"It would help so people could live and breathe on Mars," he said.

Cepheus said he is excited about and proud of the lander, knowing that his hometown will play an important part in the mission.

"On Sunday, the whole world will be looking at Tucson," he said.

● Contact reporter Aaron Mackey at 807-8012 or at amackey@azstarnet.com.

On the Net: Arizona Daily Star: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/240354