JDC Week 1: The Mystery of Seeds

Tuesday January 11 was the first meeting of the Junior Detectives Club: An after school enrichment course offered by the Springside School afterschool center

taught by Upper School Science teacher Kim Eberle-Wang.

Our first Case involved the Mystery of Seeds. Our team of junior detectives sorted seeds which had been carelessly mixed into sand. There are six different kinds of seeds in the mix: carrot, lettuce, zinnia, sunflower, basil and peas. The students observed the seeds using all of their senses, sorted them and then placed them in petri dishes in the conditions - light, warmth and water to hopefully make them begin to grow or germinate! See Discovery Science online: How Do Seeds Germinate?

The different type of seeds all look different from each other now. Will they continue to look different when they germinate?

Will they germinate by next week's club meeting? Stay tuned to find out.....


A Picture of the Seeds in the Incubator Taken on Friday -
4 days later...showed this exciting finding:

In the mean time...check into this blog to see pictures from the class and to find links to cool websites and videos that you can look at with your junior detectives when they get home.  Ask them to explain to you what they are doing in the pictures....

This free digital collage made with Smilebox

JDC Science Chat:

We also had time to talk a bit about sand and rocks this week.
How is sand made?
Why do different types of sand look different?

We learned than quite a few of the junior detectives have collections of rocks, fossils, shells and sand at home..If you would like to send any of these into the class on any Tuesday - feel free to send in a "show and tell object".

Teaching about something that you have at home is always a great way to help yourself and others learn more about science. This week I shared some rocks and sand that came from Mt Aetna in Italy.


Check out the Bill Nye the Science Guy Video below for More about Geology




NEXT WEEK's JDC Mystery: The Case of The Trace Evidence 

When we learn how to use a light microscope to observe
sample of tiny evidence collected in different places
around the school and to interpret what they might mean about
what happens in those locations