Rogue Rodent Mystery - A Study in Forensic Science - Summer Camp Kit

Grades K-1. Engage your budding scientists with this intriguing mystery that really hits home when they need to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of a beloved classroom pet, Alice the guinea pig.

• Ms. Hawkins said goodbye to her students, put Alice safely back in her enclosure, went to the cafeteria to grab a snack, and returned 20 minutes later to find Alice gone
• Ms. Hawkins has narrowed the suspects down to 4 - all current students of hers
• Your students will work together toward the most plausible scenarios and celebrate their findings in the concluding lesson with certificates honoring their work as forensic investigators
• Consists of 10 lessons, each lasting approx. 1 hour:
  • Lesson 1 - Watch a video taken immediately after Alice was discovered missing and practice observation skills
  • Lesson 2 - Make a rough sketch of a pretend crime scene
  • Lesson 3 - Use photographs, diagrams, and graphs to create a composite sketch of a witness's testimony
  • Lesson 4 - Listen to 4 suspects' alibis, then use matching picture cards to retell each story in sequential order
  • Lesson 5 - Run a simple experiment to make a connection between a force (a rolling ball), and the resulting movement of the object (fallen model skeleton in Ms. Hawkins's classroom)
  • Lesson 6 - Match parts of a shoe print left in the classroom to a larger pattern, and measure the length and width of the shoe print
  • Lesson 7 - Learn more about guinea pigs to better understand how Alice came to be missing, then use the information to make arguments about the potential involvement of each suspect
  • Lesson 8 - Determine which suspect was most likely to have left behind orange paint smudges by mixing together different primary colors of paint, challenging students to follow a procedure in the correct order
  • Lesson 9 - Use balances to literally weigh the evidence of each suspect against one another
  • Lesson 10 - Ties together any loose ends or resolve unanswered questions about the mystery
• Includes 103-page instructor's guide, introductory video on DVD, teacher resource CD, preprinted student handouts, and all needed supplies
• For 30 students
• Allow extra delivery time