By Katie Rosenberger and Kristin Sommers (June 14, 2003)

Ms. Bosch’s IB Chemistry students are becoming forensic scientists this week, in order to solve a mystery. Students will be using DNA samples, fingerprint analysis, flame tests, and other various scientific methods to solve the case. Ms. Bosch’s two IB Chemistry classes, consisting of 20 students, played special agents, which involved looking for clues, working with the police, and interviewing various suspects in a lab provided by Court TV. 

The scenario is as follows: Sophomore Farell Oxley is playing Gerald, a young student who stumbles upon a secret chemistry lab in an accidentally unlocked maintenance room in his apartment building.

In the room he discovers a broken flask and several bloody rags. Gerald calls the police, and they narrow the case down to six suspects, each of whom had access to a key which unlocked this room. The only problem is that the key is missing from the maintenance room rack and all six suspects deny any knowledge of its whereabouts.  Various members of the faculty were asked to play suspects in the case and had to stay in character at all times. Mr. Guy plays Dave Lowry, the buildings outgoing superintendent, who has a suspiciously large cut on his hand. Ms O’Connell plays Elizabeth Green, a shy secondary superintendent who handles difficult maintenance jobs, and has several small cuts on her hands.

The display case in the main office has been transformed into  a CSI crime scene and crime lab displaying all the evidence of  possible crimes, including suspects.  (Photo by Kristin Sommers)

Mr. Henderson plays Harold Manning who is part owner of the building and as well as a plumber, who is loved by most of the tenants. His hands and arms, however, are pretty banged up, which he claims is a result of his job. Dr. Heupel plays Derrick Jensen who is an angry custodian with a chip on his shoulder. 

Mr. Snee plays Jeff Knight, the majority owner of the building who is not liked by older tenants, although newer tenants are indifferent towards him. He has a rather large gash on his palm, which supposedly is from fixing an air conditioning unit. Dr. Bilby plays Kirsten Knight, the co-owner of the building, who argues frequently with Jeff Knight, her husband. 

With this lab Ms. Bosch hoped to help students develop a greater understanding of concepts such as acid/base chemistry, quantum mechanics of an atom, and surfactant chemistry, while doing something the student would enjoy. "I wanted to do something fun that would get the attention of seniors as well as the school at the end of the year," said Ms. Bosch. She also added, "The confession will be announced by the end of the week."