Putting colors on the case
By Andrew Seguin
 “Predict, Observe, Explain,” reads a sign posted in the Lower School science classroom. Those three words guide scientists the world over, not to mention the ones at Chapin, who complete daily investigations into biology, chemistry and physics.
Kindergarten students acted out each of those words last week as they explored chromatography, a technique used to examine the separation of colors and determine their composition. The girls’ task? To discover who had pasted a photo of teacher Joren Erickson’s head onto an image of a scuba diver, laminated it and placed it in the science room’s fish tank.
Rumors had it that the culprit was one of the Kindergarten head teachers: Mrs. Lipstein, Ms. McLean or Ms. Thies. But how to know which one? “Well, they left a note in black marker,” Mr. Erickson said. “But I accidentally spilled water on it,” he added, explaining that all that was left of the note was a smeared mess. The best way to use the note as evidence was through chromatography.
To be sure that the students knew how to conduct the investigation, Mr. Erickson explained chromatography in more detail. He showed the girls strips of paper on which he had placed dots of color, then soaked with an eyedropper full of water until the colors went on the lam. “What colors do you see?” he asked, as he held up a strip of paper that originally had a green dot on it. The girls could easily see blue and yellow dripping from the green.
This was the same process that the students would use to put the “who” in this whodunit. Mr. Erickson and fellow teacher Burnadette Morton-Johnson had procured the three types of black markers that the suspected teachers favored. Each of the girls was to mark a strip of paper with one of the markers, wet it and then examine its color composition closely. After testing all three of the markers, Mr. Erickson and Mrs. Morton-Johnson would pass out pieces of paper cut from the anonymous note and, by comparison, a match could be found.
In conducting such an investigation, it never hurts to have backup. The girls’ parents, who were visiting the school that day, were enlisted as partners. Together they set out to commit their findings to paper.
Once that was accomplished, and shades of turquoise were discovered in one of the black inks, the hard evidence — shreds of the original note — hit the table.
“So who do you think did it?” Mr. Erickson asked, after the girls had a chance to make their observations. “Let’s all whisper on the count of three. One, two, three …”
“Ms. Thies!” the girls responded. Exactly. Chromatography had revealed who sent Mr. Erickson to sleep with the fishes.
Click here to see a photo gallery from the class.
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