Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Becoming A Career Detective (Part 1)

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders are reminded of the "investigation" of the world of work that they have been conducting since kindergarten. They are asked: "Where have you gathered information about careers?" and Where else might you obtain information?...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mystery Lessons

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Learn about mysteries with your readers. They will investigate plot, basic elements of mystery, famous characters, and become familiar with genre vocabulary. Bring in props and mystery books to begin and then have learners create story...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mock Investigation

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars explore detective investigations. In this introduction to mysteries instructional activity, students role play eye witnesses and investigators related to a "crime" committed in their classroom. Young scholars collect...
Unit Plan
Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning

Forensic Sciences: A Crime Scene Investigation Unit

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Mr. Bergman has been murdered and we need you to solve the crime! The cross-curricular unit covers 11 different types of forensic science and includes 17 activities. Scholars perform blood type analysis, blood spatter analysis,...
Activity
Gene Jury

DNA Detectives

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Police find a man murdered in a local hotel, DNA everywhere, and now they need scholars' help. Budding detectives step into a crime scene playing the roles of victim, suspects, and investigators. They apply knowledge of criminology and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Doctors as Detectives

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners consider the investigative and detective work that goes into disease control. They research specific diseases and simulate a doctor-patient diagnosis situation.
App
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Solve the Outbreak

For Students 6th - 12th
Pretend to be an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Detectives deal with data and make decisions to determine the dawn of the disease!
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Become a Word Detective

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students investigate the origin of words in the English language.  In this language history lesson, students examine words by breaking them down and finding their roots.  Students analyze words from a poem and complete a word...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Solve the Case!

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Learners discover the habits of panthers by solving fictitious crime mysteries.  In this animal life lesson, students utilize their research from previous lessons to solve mysteries in a panther activity.  Learners answer...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

CSI, Second Grade Style

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders conduct a classroom investigation. In this investigative instructional activity, 2nd graders spend their time observing, measuring, and collecting data. They simulate a forensic science lab by conducting a fingerprint,...
Lesson Plan
NOAA

Biological Oceanographic Investigations – Signals from the Deep

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill directly impacted an area of the Gulf of Mexico the size of Oklahoma. A marine biology lesson looks at the impact of an oil spill on the deeper parts of the ocean. Scholars download actual data collected...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

DNA Detectives

For Teachers 10th - 12th
In order to understand DNA fingerprinting, advanced biology aces divise a crime scenario and analyze three different samples of lambda DNA. This creative lesson plan provides practice with micropipettes, electrophoresis boxes, and other...
Lesson Plan
Polar Trec

Polar Detectives: Using Ice Core Data to Decode Past Climate Mysteries

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
How does examining an ice core tell us about weather? Learners set up and explore fake ice cores made of sugar, salt, and ash to represent historical snowfall and volcanic eruptions. From their setups, scholars determine what caused the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Life Science: DNA Whodunit?

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students role play an honorary detective to assist in solving a crime committed. They investigate by a bank robbery and interview eyewitnesses using their Crime Investigation Notebook and clues from an eyewitness account from the...
Unit Plan
Intel

Forensics: Get a Clue

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Although the methods are all scientific, forensic science was started by police officers rather than scientists, who relied on observation and common sense. Young detectives use many tools to solve crimes around the school in a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Home Energy Audit

For Teachers 1st - 7th
Students investigate ways to save energy. In this environmental lesson, students play the role of a building inspector and identify "culprits" that waste energy. Students use a checklist to identify specific practices that waste energy.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Who Did It?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars explore how forensic science is used in criminal investigations. They learn that for the next few days that are going to try to solve a crime that took place in the classroom. Students are given a story to read about the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Who Done It?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pick and choose which activities to include in this crime scene investigation. Junior detectives can examine fingerprints, DNA, blood samples, or bone structure.  The plan suggests you have teams solve a mystery, but it does not...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Everything Was Up to Date in 1628

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students examine the life and lifestyles of New England colonists in the year 1628, and then investigate what life was like in their own area during the same time period. After watching segments from the PBS history series, "Colonial...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Boom and Bust

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students investigate commercial fishery. In this fishery instructional activity, students describe stages in commercial fishery, interpret data and predict when a fisher stock is showing signs of overexploitation.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Vision Of The Future

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students investigate ways in which new vision tests and technologies can be used to help detect and correct vision problems. They begin by reading the Times article, Software May Replace the Eye Chart on the Wall. They stage a medical...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Feature Column: Virtual Field Trips

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students discover ways to stay healthy by utilizing Internet education software.  In this computer technology instructional activity, students investigate Internet programs that simulate a field trip by showing images and video....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Black Hole Lesson

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders experiment with detection techniques for black holes by modeling the rotation of galaxies with larger and larger masses in the center. They discover while some events cannot be directly observed they may be observable in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Honeybee

For Teachers K - 4th
Learners investigate honeybees and the importance of honeybees to humans. They identify the various parts of a bee's body using velcro parts, role-play a hive, and answer review questions.