05.29.2015
Written By: Becca Mackenzie
For our final event of the year, we arranged a fieldtrip to the U of MN. We were excited to get the students into real lab space and have all the associated amenities (hoods and Bunsen burners!) To make the event even more entertaining (hopefully) we created a mystery for them to solve.
They came to campus to solve the mystery of who kidnapped Goldy Gopher. *DISCLAIMER* No gophers were hurt during this process! Once they arrived on campus we briefed them on the case (and also the importance of safety in a chemistry lab). We gave them classified documents revealing that Goldy had been working on a nanoparticle synthesis when he was abducted from the lab. But fortunately he was able to leave a package behind, but the authorities didn’t know what it meant. We broke up into groups, 2-3 students for each graduate student mentor and walked them through the nanoparticle synthesis. Once the iron nanoparticles were synthesized they held them over the package and watched the particles aggregate around magnetic spots, revealing the secret message, “RED FIRE”.
At this point, we broke to have lunch. We brought in a few chemistry professors (thanks Professors Frontiera and Leopold!) to chat with the students but by this point, the students were just way too excited and barely gave notice to the professors. If we do this again, we’ll structure the lunch a little more to encourage interaction with the professors.
Next, I handed out the suspect files. Six KIPP employees had been working with Goldy in the lab and each had been working with specific elements… which when ignited give off different colors (perhaps the key to the “RED FIRE” clue?!?!) The students made solutions with each element and did a flame test to see which solution gave off red flames. With this information they eliminated 4 suspects and finished by testing unknown white powders (magnesium sulfate, baking powder, and baking soda) to determine who the criminal was!
While the whole crime story was somewhat contrived, I think the students had fun with it. Plus it allowed us to be pretty creative with the different experiments. And I was really impressed with the deductive reasoning of the students. Finally, major thanks to the KIPP teachers who so graciously volunteered to be suspects in the case. They were really good sports.
I really enjoyed this event because it allowed us to do more exotic chemistry and we got to interact with the students for an extended period of time. Really excited to do this again next year! Maybe we could even get Goldy to make an appearance next time!