Science Club

Rangeview Pizza Parlour Poses Perilous Problem

It was a mystery more puzzling than any book written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Following a visit to the Rangeview Pizza Parlour, why did a bunch of Science Club kids get sick (so sick that they needed imaginary buckets for their imaginary throwing up) whilst some did not? 

Detective Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson would not have known where to start, nor would Miss Marple or Tintin.  Fortunately, we had a brilliant team of detectives on the case.  Did we have Nancy Drew? Scooby Doo & the gang?  Phryne Fisher?  No, we had Science Club kids!  Dr Alex was the first to realise that there was a case to solve (and she was a great GP, asking all of the appropriate questions).  Who else was on the team? Inspector Morse & Sergeant Lewis?  Mulder & Scully?  Cagney & Lacey?  The Famous Five?  Hercule Poirot?  Actually, we had Jessie the epidemiologist, Liam the Public Health Officer, Jayden the microbiologist and plenty more . . . the full team of Science Club kids.  

All of the kids in the team got involved with solving the mystery.  We were impressed with the knowledge some of the students already had and how well they could express themselves.  Most of the students had worked out what the culprit was, part-way through the session.  Ruby Redfort and Zac Power never solve their case in the middle of the book.  Nor do Sergeant Tom Croydon & Constable Maggie Doyle, nor Starsky & Hutch; not even Inspector Rex.  These kids were such good detectives that they even worked out that the plates of 'bacteria' that the microbiologist had ‘grown’ were actually jelly and marshmallows...

The students all waited politely for their turn at looking through the microscope and learnt that there are quite a few different kinds of microbiologists.  Officers O’Leary & Minogue could never have learnt so much so quickly (especially if they had Officers Donovan & Laupepe on their team). 

Finally, the case was cracked by the amazing Science Club kids.  They are as smart and intrepid as Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire.  They identified an ingredient in some of the pizzas that was eaten by the people who became sick.  In the words of Arlo the Rangeview City Council Environmental Health Inspector, "Gastro is upon us, thanks to salmonella!"  Most importantly they learnt that it was not the actual ingredient in the pizzas that causes the problem.  It is the way the food is handled that affects whether it stays safe or becomes dangerous - washing hands, using gloves, cooking the food properly and storing appropriate foods in the fridge.  As Captain Holt and Detectives Peralta, Boyle, Santiago and Diaz would say, “Cool, cool, cool.”

We finished in time for the detectives to go outside for a bit; thank you to Arlo and Liam for helping to pack up.

While it was a good session, and enjoyed by all, there remains one mystery to be solved – after the horror of the last few Science Club sessions, why did we return to vomit?  We’ll ask Captain Holt to assign Hitchcock & Scully to that one.

Science Club parent volunteers – Julie, Sally, Jasna, Kyla, Melanie, Emma & Heather