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Announces the Release of The First Edition of Plato's Pond, an
out-of-this-world whodunit where science solves the crime.
Click here to purchase book.
For ages: 9-up
Pages: 275
-includes instructions for five science experiments-
- A thrilling fantasy novel that gets kids excited about science!
- Meets many national science educational standards.
- Kids analyze clues by conducting science experiments. They can share and compare their findings with other Plato's Pond Detective's on this website! (see experiments)
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Plato's Pond is a book for the web-savvy youth of today.
It combines the excitement of a fantasy novel with the intrigue of
real-world science and the interactivity of the Internet.
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HELP!
We're stranded on another world and need your help to get home! I know this sounds weird, but please believe us, we're in desperate need of your assistance... |
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What begins as an attempt to catch a stray dog quickly turns into an adventure of a lifetime for Watson, Crick and Rosa. The clever canine tricks them into entering a forgotten gateway that leads to the land of Gaia. There, they discover a wondrous world filled with majestic griffins, squabbling shell-less turtles, giant carnivorous plants and mischievous long-nosed snodlops.
The three teenagers soon discover that they were summoned to solve a crime - a crime that if they don’t solve will leave them stranded on Gaia forever.
It is now up to you to help them catch the thief and get home by conducting science experiments and analyzing the evidence. Time is critical and they're running out of it.
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Conduct Science Experiments and Solve a Crime!
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The Science Experiments
You will have fun solving the mystery of Plato's Pond by conducting safe, simple, science experiments, using common everyday objects. The characters in the book make science easy by describing, in detail, how to perform the experiments as well as the scientific concepts behind them. The five experiments that reveal who-did-it are:
- Fluid Mechanics: Discover how graded bedding is formed by observing the settling of different size particles in water.
- Water Tension: Use soap to break the surface tension of water, and discover if one of the suspects is lying.
- Buoyancy and Pressure: Observe how objects can increase or decrease their ability to remain buoyant by changes in their surface area.
- pH Analysis: Measure the pH of different solutions to determine which suspect had made a guest appearance at the scene of the crime.
- Copper Plating: Observe how a weak acid, such as vinegar, can create metal-ions, and how a suspect may have inadvertently used this scientific phenomenon to copper-plate a nail.
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Share your results and suspicions with other Plato’s Pond detectives online!
Once you complete your experiments you can report your results on this website, and view what other readers have posted as well. By sharing and comparing results you can better validate your own conclusions and better determine who-did-it.
Even though the highly motivating nature of this ‘whodunit’ will have you scrambling out of your seats to conduct scientific experiments, some of you may choose to do them later. Anytime is fine because the experiments do not determine the outcome of the story. They only reveal who-did-it, not where the key is hidden, which is what drives the story in the book. Therefore, the adventure continues to be just as exciting and meaningful no matter how you choose to interact with the book.
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National Science Standards
Plato's Pond is an exciting mystery that will appeal to people of all ages. However, others, like teachers, home schoolers and parents will be happy to hear that this book also satisfies many middle school and Upper elementary national educational standards.
National Science Educational Standards
After reading Plato's Pond you will: |
- readers will understand that the purpose of experimenting is to test a hypothesis and that its outcome may support, disprove or demand further experimentation to draw a conclusion
- readers will distinguish those observations that are relevant to the question and to the problem at hand
- readers will analyze alternative explanations and procedures
- readers will formulate testable questions and generate explanations using the results from predictions
- readers will question interpretations or conclusions for which there is sufficient supporting evidence, and recognize that any conclusion can be challenged by further evidence
- readers will formulate further testable hypotheses based on knowledge and understanding generated
- readers will give examples to show that the decisions we make as individuals, groups and communities can affect society and the natural environment, and that these changes are not always easy to reverse.
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The Characters
Watson is a very smart 12 year-old boy who does not socialize well and hates school. He has a unique destiny in Gaia in that he is the only one who can repair the master key.
Crick is a very tall, shy, athletic 17-year-old. He grew so fast that when he turned 12 his mother nicknamed him Crick for all the creaks and cricks his bones made during his unusual growing spurt. Throughout the story of Plato's Pond he discovers that he has grown quite fond of Rosalind.
Rosalind is a 16-year-old girl who recently moved from Costa Rica and is having a difficult adjusting to her new school in the United States. She brings an alternative and sophisticated way of looking at things. She normally would not associate with Watson or Crick, but she grows attached to our male heroes, and towards the end of the story discovers that she is very found of Crick..
Author's note: James Watson and Francis Crick are credited with the discovery of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Rosalind Franklin was the first scientist to see DNA using X-ray diffraction. However, in the male dominated world of the 1950’s, she got little credit for her discovery |
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The Author
Fred Andrews has been creating science mysteries for television and the Internet for over 10 years. He won a New England Emmy Award for Mission Mars and was nominated for three Emmy Awards for Zoo Sleuth. Plato’s Pond is his most provocative work to date, a science mystery that is written for the web-savvy youth of today. It combines the excitement of the adventure novel, with the interactivity of the World Wide Web.
Check out Fred's online game: The Mystery of the Pharaoh’s Puzzle where players use their geometry and their detective skills to discover what is hidden in an ancient sarcophagus. |
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