Ward's® Who's Killing Crystal Creek? Lab Activity

Solve the Mystery with Science

People in the town of Crystal are being poisoned by the local creek. By swimming in the creek and eating fish from the creek, the town residents are getting sick and need to find the responsible party for this poisoning. Using role-playing, water chemistry, and image processing, your students will do the detective work to determine if there’s enough evidence to prosecute one of Crystal’s citizens for turning the creek into a potential killer. Students test for pH, nitrates, and turbidity to look for changes in the creek in response to various potential polluters. In addition, they will examine images of various invertebrates in order to identify and classify them according to their levels of pollution tolerance. This activity requires the use of a computer and three to four 40-minute class periods to complete. Includes materials for five setups.