Engaging Alignment with NGSS

Murder at Old Fields is an exciting new Forensic Science Lab Activity for grades 7 - 12. Based on the 1842 double-murder of Alexander and Rebecca Smith at their farmhouse in Old Fields, Long Island, students examine evidence and conduct labs based on the historical facts of this case.

There are two versions of the Murder at Old Fields activity; a real-world kit and an online version available on this website. Read more below about each version or try our online demo.

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What People are Saying…

Murder at Old Fields allows the kids to each work at their own pace.

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Cara J.
Instructional Specialist

I've used the kit by itself and also in conjunction with the online version. The blended experience allows the students to really visualize the crime scene.

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Karalyn R.
Associate Chair of Science Dept., Science Teacher

It helped me to learn forensics a little bit better.

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Kecia S.
Forensic Science Teacher

Some of (the students) have gone looking for the evidence even on their own time, at home, so I think it's been an outstanding response.

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Rich F.
Forensic Science Teacher

I would strongly recommend adding it to the curriculum because it's a great way to supplement the evidence or you can use it as a culminating activity as well.

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Keith M.
Forensic Science Teacher

It was super fun and the kids loved it. They got to go search out the clues and just got into it.

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Jen T.
Science Teacher

We have students all over the world in our program so I saw Murder at Old Fields at an NSTA conference and was so excited and was able to integrate it into our course.

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Katherine E.
Doctoral Student

I purchased Murder at Old Fields with my own money because I wanted the kids to have something real world to do in the classroom.

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Nancy K.
Forensic Science Teacher

Online Activity

The Murder at Old Fields® online activity is a cutting edge tool for teaching forensic science. It features an online classroom with lessons and quizzes, a 3D crime scene to explore, a virtual lab to study gathered evidence, and an easy-to-use interface for teachers to manage their classes.

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In-Classroom Kit

This kit includes easy-to-follow and well-written student and teacher guides which go step-by-step through the lab activities. The guides are in modular form, so a teacher can choose to use only those labs that fit the class time available for it. Available from Ward’s Natural Science.

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Learn Engines

Murder at Old Fields® is part of Learn Engines, a provider of high quality science lab activities. Other Learn Engines activities include:

Diablo Highway

The 1938 Frome murders prompted sensational nationwide news coverage as much because of the gruesome details of the murders as for the identity of the victims: two women of style and wealth, mother and daughter, traveling in their luxury car un-escorted through some of the most inhospitable terrain in America - the West Texas desert.

Diablo Highway® features comprehensive forensic science lab activities based on actual crimes that occurred in the not-recent past. Diablo Highway® contains 11 lessons and nine lab activities for middle and high school students based on the double-murder of Hazel Frome and her daughter Nancy that occurred in March 1938 on a desert road in Southwest Texas. Diablo Highway® is problem-based learning (PBL) that compels the application of science through real-world problem solving.

Learn More about Diablo Highway®

Who Took Fluffy?

One morning, the students in Ms. Donroe’s class at Jay Elementary School arrived to find their class mascot, Fluffy the rabbit, missing from his hutch! Everyone was upset: this was their pet rabbit, the snow-white adorable little cutie they all named Fluffy!

Who Took Fluffy?® is a Who-Done-It mystery that introduces students to science concepts through a Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach.

The problem is simple: determine Who Took Fluffy?® (Fluffy is a rabbit who is the class mascot in Ms. Donroe’s classroom).

To achieve that determination, students learn concepts that help form the basis for all science learning such as pattern recognition, cause and effect and evidence-based conclusions.

Learn More about Who Took Fluffy?®