Standards
Select a standard to learn more:
- NGSS Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
- NY New York State - NYSP-12SLS
- TX Texas - §112.20. Science, Grade 8, Adopted 2017
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Since their release in 2013, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have helped states and school districts in the U.S. to increase student engagement with natural scientific phenomenon at the nexus of three dimensions of learning: Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts.
The challenge for educators is to present fun and engaging science lab activities that help their students achieve the objectives outlined in the NGSS.
Murder at Old Fields is such a lab activity for grades 7-12.
Learn Engines has prepared the following matching tool to help educational administrators see how Murder at Old Fields aligns with the NGSS for grades 7-12, not only for the three dimensions of learning but also for what the NGSS prescribes for the Nature of Science, Phenomenon-Based Learning, Storylines, Mathematics and Literacy. Choose any of the options in the navbar on the top right.
Science and Engineering Practices
Murder at Old Fields strongly supports the first dimension in learning specified in the NGSS - Science and Engineering Practices.
The eight Science and Engineering Practices identified in the NGSS framework as essential for all students to learn are listed below followed by the specific way in which Murder at Old Fields supports and promotes this practice:
- Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
- The essential question for students conducting the Murder at Old Fields Lab activity is Who committed the crime? In order to answer that question, the students must ask themselves: How can I determine who committed the crime? And then, through a series of lessons and lab activities, they learn the science, apply the science, gather and interpret data and come to a reasoned determination based on evidence. In Murder at Old Fields, the questions arise from the need to solve a problem.
- Developing and using models
- One of the key models used by students in Murder at Old Fields is the crime scene map. All the evidence is mapped here which forms the basis for the student's investigation and their resulting determinations. According to the NGSS, a diagram is considered a model. This model can show relationships among variables. In a simple example from Murder at Old Fields, what is the relationship between a sample of hair evidence belonging to one of the victims and the location in which it was found?
- Planning and carrying out investigations
- There are seven engaging lab activities in Murder at Old Fields. Teachers can choose to have students work individually or in groups to encourage collaborative problem-solving. Groups can develop their own strategies for proceeding, such as by dividing their investigation into its component parts and assigning each part to a member of the group.
- Analyzing and interpreting data
- In all of the Murder at Old Fields labs, students gather data in the course of their investigation, then analyze and interpret this data. This interpretation becomes the raw material in constructing the narrative of the crime and, ultimately, the arrival at a determination as to who may have committed this crime and how.
- Using mathematics and computational thinking
- In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Spatter Lab, students measure blood drops for elongation and the length of its spines to help determine the height at which the blood was dropped from the surface and the direction in which the blood was traveling.
- Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)
- At the conclusion of the Murder at Old Fields lab activity, students write a report summarizing the results of their investigation including the evidence to support their determinations.
- Engaging in argument from evidence
- Students must choose the culprit and then support their conclusion – make their argument – based on the evidence they discovered and analyzed. It is quite common for students in the same class to credibly argue a case that points to different culprits.
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
- Throughout all seven of the lab activities in Murder at Old Fields, students evaluate the evidence from the crime scene, analyze this evidence in the lab and record this data. This data is compared with data from the control samples and a determination is made as to whom evidence may have originated.
In these ways outlined above, Murder at Old Fields supports the NGSS dimension in learning for Science and Engineering Practices.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
In the Murder at Old Fields lab activities, the following labs support NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas:
- MS-PS1-2 Matter and its Interactions
- In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Typing lab, students conduct experiments to determine the blood type of the two victims and four suspects associated with the crime - the control samples - and the blood type of the evidence found at the crime scene. These experiments involve the addition of anti-A, anti-B and anti-RH serum to blood samples and then observing the reaction - agglutination or no agglutination. The Blood Typing lesson provided to the students helps them to understand the causes of this chemical reaction and how to determine the blood type based on these reactions.
- 3-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
- In the Blood Spatter lab included as part of the Murder at Old Fields real world kit, students conduct experiments with blood samples dropping them from various heights and also from various directions. They then measure the elongation and the spines of the blood drops to help measure the height from the surface at which the blood was dropped and the direction in which the blood was moving.
- 3-PS2-2. Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
- In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Spatter lab lesson, it is made clear to the students that, because blood is a fluid, it responds as all fluids do, according to the laws of physics. These laws and their effects are repeatable and predictable. Students conduct experiments with the motion of blood, and how it is effected by an object at rest, such as a hard floor surface or a wall. These experiments, conducted under controlled circumstances, help to determine the characteristics of blood spatter found as evidence at the scene of the crime, such as speed, direction and source of the blood.
- PS2-3: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- In the Murder at Old Fields Shoe Impressions lesson, the principle of "displacement" is made clear to the students and is then demonstrated in the lab activity. Students learn, for example, that the depth of a shoe impression is effected by the weight of the owner of the shoe and the material in which the impression is made - grass, dust, mud (unbalanced) and a wooden floor (balanced).
Crosscutting Concepts
The NGSS defines crosscutting concepts as those that “unify the study of science and engineering through their common application across fields.” The NGSS Framework recommends that science lessons, labs and activities are embedded with these crosscutting concepts through all grades because they:
- Help students better understand core ideas in science and engineering
- Help students better understand science and engineering practices
- Help to build familiarity with these concepts through repetition in different contexts
- Extend their growth in complexity and sophistication across the grades
- Can provide a common vocabulary for science and engineering
- Are for all students
The NGSS Framework identifies seven crosscutting concepts that bridge disciplinary boundaries and helped to form the foundation of the performance expectations.
Two of these crosscutting concepts in particular are strongly reinforced in Murder at Old Fields.
- Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Explanation
- Systems and System Models
1. Crosscutting Concepts - Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Explanation (HSLS4-2),(HS-LS4-4),(HS-LS4-5)
Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Explanation.
“Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted. A major activity of science is investigating and explaining causal relationships and the mechanisms by which they are mediated. Such mechanisms can then be tested across given contexts and used to predict and explain events in new contexts.”
In Murder at Old Fields, the effect is the unnatural death of the two victims. Who committed this crime? and How did this happen? are the two guiding questions in the investigation to determine the cause of this effect.
To do so, students must engage in a series of scientifically-based lab activities which include:
- The Story of the Crime
- Blood Typing
- Hair Analysis
- Fingerprint Analysis
- DNA Profiling
- Shoe Impressions
Conducting these lab activities in Murder at Old Fields enables students to address the next two questions outlined the the NGSS crosscutting concept of Cause and Effect: moving from How did that happen? toward What mechanisms caused that to happen? and What conditions were critical for that to happen?
As specified in the NGSS, for students, the very act of carrying out an investigation, which is the central focus of the Murder at Old Fields lab activities, addresses the core of the crosscutting concept of Cause and Effect.
“When students engage in scientific argumentation, it is often centered about identifying the causes of an effect.”
Murder at Old Fields addresses this as well. In the culminating report, students present their case and supporting data. This compels them to argue from evidence when attributing evidence to an owner.
Further supporting the NGSS, solving this case helps students to understand that empirical evidence is required to differentiate between causation and correlation.
It is made clear to the student, for example, that evidence found on the victims, is a correlative connection to an individual but is not a causative connection between that individual and the murder of the two victims. Additional corroborative evidence is necessary to prove causation.
2. Crosscutting Concepts - Systems and System Models (HS-ESS3-6)
The NGSS defines Systems and System Models as: “Defining the system under study—specifying its boundaries and making explicit a model of that system—provides tools for understanding and testing ideas that are applicable throughout science and engineering.”
Murder at Old Fields reinforces the crosscutting concept of Systems and System Models.
In Murder at Old Fields, the crime scene map becomes an essential model throughout the activity and particularly when students must “Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim.”
This map supports the following notion articulated in the NGSS:
“In the laboratory or even in field research, the extent to which a system under study can be physically isolated or external conditions controlled is an important element of the design of an investigation and interpretation of results.”
The Nature of Science
Murder at Old Fields helps to reinforce the nature of scientific enterprise which the NGSS recognizes as being essential for every educated citizen.
The eight basic understandings about the Nature of Science are presented below in a table that demonstrates the way in which Murder at Old Fields supports each of these understandings:
- Scientific Investigations Use a Variety of Methods - (HS-LS1-3)
- Murder at Old Fields students use a variety of methods in the lab activities. These include observation, critical analysis, data recording and comparative analysis. Conducting the Hair Analysis lab, for example, students also use a variety of tools including a microscope, forceps, pipet, coverslips and slides.
- Scientific Knowledge is Based on Empirical Evidence - (HSESS3-5)
- In Murder at Old Fields, students conduct close analysis and interpretation of data for the evidence and the control samples and accurately record their findings. The students’ determinations as to whom a piece of evidence might be associated with and ultimately who may have committed the crime are based on and supported by evidence – not speculation. In short, students make and defend a claim based on evidence and thereby come to understand the difference between cause and correlation.
- Scientific Knowledge is Open to Revision in Light of New Evidence - (HS-LS2-3)
- If the initial analysis of some of the evidence is tending toward a conclusion, students are compelled to withhold final determination until all the evidence and control samples have been analyzed.
- Scientific Models, Laws, Mechanisms, and Theories Explain Natural Phenomena
- Students use the map of the crime scene as the framework for the entire lab activity. As the evidence, analysis and determinations construct the narrative of the crime, it must be based cogently within the framework of this primary model.
- Science is a Way of Knowing
- The determinations arrived at through the conduct of forensic science forms a narrative, an explanation, of the phenomenon that had occurred – the unnatural death of Alexander and Rebecca Smith. Using the modern tools and techniques of today’s forensic scientists, students compare their findings with other class members and with the professional investigators who worked the case in the 1840s.
- Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems - (HS-LS4-1),(HSLS4-4)
- The forensic science labs conducted by students during this investigation reinforces the notion of an order and consistency in natural systems. The nature of fingerprints is such that fingerprints are unique, that they can be systematically identified and do not change over the duration of an individual’s lifetime. This is consistent.
- Scientific knowledge is based on the assumption that natural laws operate today as they did in the past and they will continue to do so in the future. (HS-LS4-1),(HSLS4-4)
- In Murder at Old Fields, students use the modern knowledge, skills and tools of forensic science and apply them to this criminal case from long ago, 1842. During the conduct of the labs, this assumption is affirmatively reinforced repeatedly: that the natural laws that operate today do so as they did in 1842.
- Science is a Human Endeavor - (HS-LS3-2),(HS-LS3-3)
- What is particularly beneficial about Murder at Old Fields is that the notion that science is a human endeavor put to the task of human betterment is strongly reinforced. Here, science can help determine the perpetrators of an act of violence against two innocent human beings. Teachers are encouraged to have students and/or student/groups share their approaches and their findings with the other members of their class. Students do so with written, oral and video presentations.
- Science Addresses Questions About the Natural and Material World - (HS-ESS3-2)
- The two primary questions posed by the Murder at Old Fields lab activity are: How did this happen? and Who did it? In answering these questions, students properly learn and apply science.
“The point is to provide an instructional context that bridges tactics and strategies with practices and the nature of science, through understanding the role of systems, models, patterns, cause and effect, the analysis and interpretations of data, the importance of evidence with scientific arguments, and the construction of scientific explanations of the natural world.”
Phenomenon-Based Learning
Murder at Old Fields begins with what the NGSS calls a phenomenon and proceeds into a deepened engagement and context made possible by “Phenomenon-Based Learning.”
“By centering science education on phenomena that students are motivated to explain, the focus of learning shifts from learning about a topic to figuring out why or how something happens.”
Phenomenon-Based Learning is an foundational component of the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices.
In Murder at Old Fields, the initiating phenomenon is death or, more specifically, a sudden or unnatural death – one that shortens the expected natural lifetime of an individual.
This is a suitable phenomenon in the NGSS framework because the anchoring phenomenon is understandable prior to the investigation. Alexander and Rebecca Smith did die in their Old Fields farmhouse, this is fact, but the students must further investigate to discover how and by whom.
The students do so in an ordered, step-by-step process to determine how this phenomenon occurred.
Anchored as it is in this real event, Murder at Old Fields helps move students away from what the NGSS calls “decontextualized knowledge that students are unable to apply” in other applications. Rather, Murder at Old Fields helps students “build more usable and generative knowledge” - problem-solving techniques that can be applied to other in-depth investigations.
The investigation and explanation of an unnatural death is certainly a compelling phenomena that, as is stated in the NGSS guidelines, “students find interesting, relevant and consequential” to support their engagement. Because the case of Alexander and Rebecca Smith is a real case from history involving actual people and an actual place - this makes it all the more compelling for the students.
This becomes the anchoring phenomenon which is followed and closely supported by investigative phenomenon throughout the Murder at Old Fields lab activities.
In these ways and others, Murder at Old Fields strongly encourages the learning and application of science because it is grounded in phenomenon.
Storylines
Murder at Old Fields strongly supports the concept of “Storylines” as set forth in the NGSS standards.
“A storyline is a coherent sequence of lessons, in which each step is driven by students' questions that arise from their interactions with phenomena.”
The concept of “Storylines” is a featured component of the NGSS.
The first lesson in Murder at Old Fields is "The Story of the Crime." This is the proper first lesson in the activity because it provides the context for the students to begin their investigation through the conduct of science applied to the details of the narrative of the crime presented in this first lesson.
Then each of the science labs begins with a well-written, graphically-rich lesson for that activity (Hair Analysis, Blood Typing, etc.). The student is then directed to take an online quiz to demonstrate their mastery of the content. The students then moves into the crime scene where they seek and find evidence at the farmhouse. Once they have collected all the evidence, the student goes into the virtual lab where they conduct their analysis of and, if required, experiments on the evidence found on location and the control samples that are provided to them.
In this way, the student systematically works his or her way through each of the science labs methodically building their case and always led by their own questions and curiosity about the narrative of the crime. As they progress through their investigation, their results are stored digitally in their online Gradebook and in their online Case File.
When all the science labs are complete, the student submits a summary of their investigation in a short written report. Here they choose the culprit and support their conclusion with the evidence and determinations arrived at through their investigations in the lab.
In this way, Murder at Old Fields strongly supports the NGSS standard of Storylines in that the student moves in a structured and systematic way through the context for the crime and the science labs always working toward a real-world conclusion supported by facts. It’s an opportunity for the student’s own curiosity and ingenuity to 'build a case' as to who may have committed the crime, very much like an actual forensics investigator, a determination that arises from the student’s interaction with the phenomenon, not the instructor’s.
Mathematics
The NGSS recognizes the connection between mathematics and science and this is reflected in the connections to the Common Core Learning Standards for Math.
“Science is a quantitative discipline, so it is important for educators to ensure that students’ science learning coheres well with their learning in mathematics.”
The three CCSSM (Common Core State Standards for Math) practice standards most directly relevant to science are:
- Reason abstractly and quantitatively - In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Spatter Lab, students measure the elongation and the spines of the blood drops to help measure the height of the blood from the surface and the direction in which the blood was moving.
- Use appropriate tools strategically - Conducting the labs, students use a variety of tools: microscopes, rulers, protractors, forceps, and a variety of digital tools as well, including a digital microscope and a digital data recording devices. These tools are used strategically throughout the conduct of the various lab activities as they lead through the comprehensive investigation of the crime.
- Attend to precision - In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Spatter Lab, students must precisely measure the angle at which a blood droplet strikes a surface, called the angle of impact. They measure the length of the spines, the pointed edges of a stain that radiate out to form the spatter, and the diameter of each droplet. Precise measurements and notations of these mathematical values provide essential information about from whom the blood droplet has originated.
Literacy
The NGSS recognizes the connection between literacy and building knowledge in science “including understanding the nature of evidence used, an attention to precision and detail, and the capacity to make and assess intricate arguments, synthesize complex information, and follow detailed procedures and accounts of events and concepts.”
In addressing this, the NGSS development team worked closely with the literacy team of the Common Core State standards “to identify key literacy connections to the specific content demands outlined in the NGSS.”
Below please read how Murder at Old Fields addresses the Common Core Literacy standards in science and technical subjects. The 9-10 grade level is chosen as a reference here, but Murder at Old Fields addresses similar performance standards throughout grades 7-12.
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Literacy Anchor Standards and Relevant Corresponding Standards for Science and Technical Subjects
Reading Standards
Key Ideas and Details
- #
- Standard
- How Murder at Old Fields Addresses this standard
- CCR Reading Anchor #1
- Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson of Murder at Old Fields, students are directed to compare the documents that make up the historical record of the actual crime - such as contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the event - with the findings of their own investigation. This requires a close reading of the primary documents included in this lesson and a detailed reference to these details when writing their report.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.1
- “Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.”
- At the conclusion of their investigation, students are directed to write a short report summarizing their determinations. This report states their conclusions supported coherently by evidence and the data from their lab reports in an articulate demonstration of their mastery of these science concepts.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
- CCR Reading Anchor #7
- Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
- In the course of Murder at Old Fields, students engage with content delivered as written text, static images, moving images, illustrations and interactive computer displays.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7
- “Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.”
- As part of their written report at the conclusion of Murder at Old Fields, students translate the evidence found and their determination as to who the evidence belongs to from the floor plan diagram of the crime scene into a written "narrative of the crime" to support their determination of the culprit.
- CCR Reading Anchor #8
- Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson, students are directed to compare the documents that make up the historical record of the actual crime - such as contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the event - with the findings of their own investigation. The primary argument or central idea of these primary documents is that an individual, one of the suspects in the Murder at Old Fields activity, is guilty of the crime. Facts and evidence support this main argument made by the prosecutors and the judge in the trial. Close reading of these documents helps to inform the student's thesis in a short written report in which they are directed to affirm or dispute this argument based on their findings.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.8
- “Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author’s claim or a recommendation for solving a scientific or technical problem.”
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson, one of the documents that the students read and analyze contains the transcript of the actual trial for the case. They read the spoken words of the District Attorney of Suffolk County, Selah B. Strong, Esq., and analyze the manner in which his argument is presented and the evidence that is cited to support that argument.
Writing Standards
Text Types and Purposes: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1.A
- Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson, students are directed to compare the documents that make up the historical record of the actual crime - such as contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the event and the transcripts of the original trial - with the findings of their own investigation. The students are directed to affirm or dispute the original prosecutorial findings in a short written report.
If the evidence they discover during their investigation does not comport with the conclusion reached by the investigators in the 1840s, their report will indicate this and why.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1.B
- Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form and in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level and concerns.
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson, students are directed to compare the documents that make up the historical record of the actual crime - such as contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the event and the transcripts of the original trial - with the findings of their own investigation. The students are directed to affirm or dispute the original prosecutorial findings in a short written report.
If the evidence they discover during their investigation does not comport with the conclusion reached by the investigators in the 1840s, their report will indicate this and why.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1.D
- Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
- Students use the facts, evidence and data they have determined during their investigation to support their argument and are urged to adopt the investigatory tone of a detective when presenting their findings in writing.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1.E
- Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from or supports the argument presented.
- The student's investigation concludes with the submission of a short written report presenting their findings. This report concludes with their statement as to whom they have determined to be the culprit.
Text Types and Purposes: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2.B
- Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge of the topic.
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson of Murder at Old Fields, students are directed to compare the documents that make up the historical record of the actual crime - such as contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the event - with the facts, evidence and data of their own investigation.
In the "Choose the Culprit" written report, students must thoughtfully choose the relevant facts determined during their investigation to support their primary argument.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2.D
- Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic and convey a style appropriate to the discipline and context as well as to the expertise of likely readers.
- Students use the facts, evidence and data they have determined during their investigation to construct the narrative of the crime to their audience in writing. It must be precise, clear and understandable in order to effectively make their case as an investigator.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2.E
- Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
- Students use the facts, evidence and data they have determined during their investigation to support their argument and are urged to adopt the investigatory tone of a detective when presenting their findings in writing.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2.F
- Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic).
- The student's investigation concludes with the submission of a short written report presenting their findings. This report concludes with their statement as to whom they have determined to be the culprit.
Production and Distribution of Writing
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.4
- Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- At the conclusion of their investigation, students are directed to write a short report summarizing their determinations. This report states their conclusions supported coherently by evidence and the data from their lab reports in an articulate demonstration of their mastery of these science concepts.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.7
- Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
- The summary report students write and submit in the “Solve the Crime” lesson, draws from multiple sources including the written lessons from the science labs - such as Hair Analysis or Blood Typing - the primary historical documents they have read - such as the transcripts from the historical trial and “The Crime” lesson which provides important cultural and regional context for the time period and the significant persons associated with the crime, such as the victims and the suspects.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.9
- Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
- Students access multiple sources of information including transcribed testimony from many witnesses, suspects and experts pertinent to this case, articles from journalists reporting at the time, and the student’s own on-site evidence that they’ve gathered at the virtual crime scene. All this data is synthesized by the student into the presentation of their summary of their investigation.
New York State - NYSP-12SLS
In March 2018, New York State released the roadmap for the implementation of the newly developed and adopted P-12 Science Learning Standards (NYSP-12SLS). The roadmap calls for the implementation of instruction aligned to these new standards in the 2019-20 school year for grades P-3 and 6 with the implementation for other grades to follow on in the academic years after.
The challenge for administrators and curriculum supervisors in New York State districts now is how to help their students achieve the learning objectives outlined in the new P-12 Science Learning Standards and do so in a fun and engaging manner.
Murder at Old Fields is such a lab activity for grades 7-12.
The new NYSP-12SLS were developed by the NY State Education Department based on the collaborative input from various agencies, a rigorous review of past NY State science standards, surveys from the public and guidance from the most current research on scientific learning. But the primary guidance for these standards are the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
"The New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards are based on guiding documents (A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards) grounded in the most current research in science and scientific learning."
The NGSS and the NYSP-12SLS calls for greater student engagement with natural scientific phenomenon at the nexus of three dimensions of learning; Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts.
Learn Engines has prepared the following matching tool to help educational administrators in NY school districts see how Murder at Old Fields is aligned with the NYSP-12SLS and the NGSS for grades 7-12. Choose any of the options below...
Science and Engineering Practices
Murder at Old Fields strongly supports the first dimension in learning specified in the NGSS - Science and Engineering Practices. The performance expectations specified in the NYSP-12SLS were developed using these practices from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education.
The eight Science and Engineering Practices identified in the NGSS framework as essential for all students to learn are listed below followed by the specific way in which Murder at Old Fields supports and promotes this practice:
- Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
- The essential question for students conducting the Murder at Old Fields Lab activity is Who committed the crime? In order to answer that question, the students must ask themselves: How can I determine who committed the crime? And then, through a series of lessons and lab activities, they learn the science, apply the science, gather and interpret data and come to a reasoned determination based on evidence. In Murder at Old Fields, the questions arise from the need to solve a problem.
- Developing and using models
- One of the key models used by students in Murder at Old Fields is the crime scene map. All the evidence is mapped here which forms the basis for the student's investigation and their resulting determinations. According to the NGSS, a diagram is considered a model. This model can show relationships among variables. In a simple example from Murder at Old Fields, what is the relationship between a sample of hair evidence belonging to one of the victims and the location in which it was found?
- Planning and carrying out investigations
- There are seven engaging lab activities in Murder at Old Fields. Teachers can choose to have students work individually or in groups to encourage collaborative problem-solving. Groups can develop their own strategies for proceeding, such as by dividing their investigation into its component parts and assigning each part to a member of the group.
- Analyzing and interpreting data
- In all of the Murder at Old Fields labs, students gather data in the course of their investigation, then analyze and interpret this data. This interpretation becomes the raw material in constructing the narrative of the crime and, ultimately, the arrival at a determination as to who may have committed this crime and how.
- Using mathematics and computational thinking
- In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Spatter Lab, students measure blood drops for elongation and the length of its spines to help determine the height at which the blood was dropped from the surface and the direction in which the blood was traveling.
- Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)
- At the conclusion of the Murder at Old Fields lab activity, teachers ask their students to write a report summarizing the results of their investigation including the evidence to support their determinations.
- Engaging in argument from evidence
- Students must choose the culprit and then support their conclusion – make their argument – based on the evidence they discovered and analyzed. It is quite common for students in the same class to credibly argue a case that points to different culprits.
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
- Throughout all seven of the lab activities in Murder at Old Fields, students evaluate the evidence from the crime scene, analyze this evidence in the lab and record this data. This data is compared with data from the control samples and a determination is made as to whom evidence may have originated.
In these ways outlined above, Murder at Old Fields supports the NGSS dimension in learning for Science and Engineering Practices, the foundation of the performance expectations specified in the NYSP-12SLS.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
In the Murder at Old Fields lab activities, the following labs support NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas, which form the foundation for the performance expectations specified in the NYSP-12SLS:
- MS-PS1-2 Matter and its Interactions
- In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Typing lab, students conduct experiments to determine the blood type of the two victims and four suspects associated with the crime - the control samples - and the blood type of the evidence found at the crime scene. These experiments involve the addition of anti-A, anti-B and anti-RH serum to blood samples and then observing the reaction - agglutination or no agglutination. The Blood Typing lesson provided to the students helps them to understand the causes of this chemical reaction and how to determine the blood type based on these reactions.
- 3-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
- In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Spatter lab included as part of the Murder at Old Fields real world kit, students conduct experiments with blood samples dropping them from various heights and also from various directions. They then measure the elongation and the spines of the blood drops to help measure the height at which the blood was dropped from the surface and the direction in which the blood was moving.
- 3-PS2-2. Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
- In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Spatter lab lesson, it is made clear to the students that, because blood is a fluid, it responds as all fluids do, according to the laws of physics. These laws and their effects are repeatable and predictable. Students conduct experiments with the motion of blood, and how it is effected by an object at rest, such as a hard floor surface or a wall. These experiments, conducted under controlled circumstances, help to determine the characteristics of blood spatter found as evidence at the scene of the crime, such as speed, direction and source of the blood.
- PS2-3: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- In the Murder at Old Fields Shoe Impressions lesson, the principle of "displacement" is made clear to the students and is then demonstrated in the lab activity. Students learn, for example, that the depth of a shoe impression is effected by the weight of the owner of the shoe and the material in which the impression is made - grass, dust, mud (unbalanced) and a wooden floor (balanced).
Crosscutting Concepts
The NGSS defines crosscutting concepts as those that “unify the study of science and engineering through their common application across fields.” The NGSS Framework recommends that science lessons, labs and activities are embedded with these crosscutting concepts through all grades because they:
- Help students better understand core ideas in science and engineering
- Help students better understand science and engineering practices
- Help to build familiarity with these concepts through repetition in different contexts
- Extend their growth in complexity and sophistication across the grades
- Can provide a common vocabulary for science and engineering
- Are for all students
The NGSS Framework identifies seven crosscutting concepts that bridge disciplinary boundaries and helped to form the foundation for the performance expectations specified in the NYSP-12SLS.
Two of these crosscutting concepts in particular are strongly reinforced in Murder at Old Fields.
- Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Explanation
- Systems and System Models
1. Crosscutting Concepts - Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Explanation (HSLS4-2),(HS-LS4-4),(HS-LS4-5)
Cause and effect: Mechanism and Explanation. “Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted. A major activity of science is investigating and explaining causal relationships and the mechanisms by which they are mediated. Such mechanisms can then be tested across given contexts and used to predict and explain events in new contexts.”
In Murder at Old Fields, the effect is the unnatural death of the two victims. Who committed this crime? and How did this happen? are the two guiding questions in the investigation to determine the cause of this effect.
To do so, students must engage in a series of scientifically-based lab activities which include:
- The Story of the Crime
- Blood Typing
- Hair Analysis
- Fingerprint Analysis
- DNA Profiling
- Shoe Impressions
Conducting these lab activities in Murder at Old Fields enables students to address the next two questions outlined the the NGSS crosscutting concept of Cause and Effect: moving from How did that happen? toward What mechanisms caused that to happen? and What conditions were critical for that to happen?
As specified in the NGSS, for students, the very act of carrying out an investigation, which is the central focus of the Murder at Old Fields lab activities, addresses the core of the crosscutting concept of Cause and Effect.
“When students engage in scientific argumentation, it is often centered about identifying the causes of an effect.”
Murder at Old Fields addresses this as well. In the culminating report, students present their case and supporting data. This compels them to argue from evidence when attributing evidence to an owner.
Further supporting the NGSS and the NYSP-12SLS, solving this case helps students to understand that empirical evidence is required to differentiate between causation and correlation.
It is made clear to the student, for example, that evidence found on the victims, is a correlative connection to an individual but is not a causative connection between that individual and the murder of the two victims. Additional corroborative evidence is necessary to prove causation.
2. Crosscutting Concepts - Systems and System Models (HS-ESS3-6)
The NGSS defines Systems and System Models as: “Defining the system under study—specifying its boundaries and making explicit a model of that system—provides tools for understanding and testing ideas that are applicable throughout science and engineering.”
Murder at Old Fields reinforces the crosscutting concept of Systems and System Models.
In Murder at Old Fields, the crime scene map becomes an essential model throughout the activity and particularly when students must “Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim.”
This map supports the following notion articulated in the NGSS:
“In the laboratory or even in field research, the extent to which a system under study can be physically isolated or external conditions controlled is an important element of the design of an investigation and interpretation of results.”
The Nature of Science
Murder at Old Fields also helps to reinforce the nature of scientific enterprise which the NGSS recognizes as being essential for every educated citizen. The connections to these standards help to form the foundation for the performance expectations specified in the NYSP-12SLS.
The eight basic understandings about the Nature of Science are presented below in a matrix that demonstrates the way in which Murder at Old Fields supports each of these understandings:
- Scientific Investigations Use a Variety of Methods - (HS-LS1-3)
- Murder at Old Fields students use a variety of methods in the lab activities. These include observation, critical analysis, data recording and comparative analysis. Conducting the Hair Analysis lab, for example, students also use a variety of tools including a microscope, forceps, pipet, coverslips and slides.
- Scientific Knowledge is Based on Empirical Evidence - (HSESS3-5)
- In Murder at Old Fields, students conduct close analysis and interpretation of data for the evidence and the control samples and accurately record their findings. The students’ determinations as to whom a piece of evidence might be associated with and ultimately who may have committed the crime are based on and supported by evidence – not speculation. In short, students make and defend a claim based on evidence and thereby come to understand the difference between cause and correlation.
- Scientific Knowledge is Open to Revision in Light of New Evidence - (HS-LS2-3)
- If the initial analysis of some of the evidence is tending toward a determination, students are compelled to withhold final determination until all the evidence and control samples have been analyzed.
- Scientific Models, Laws, Mechanisms, and Theories Explain Natural Phenomena
- Students use the map of the crime scene as the framework for the entire lab activity. As the evidence, analysis and determinations construct the narrative of the crime, it must be based cogently within the framework of this primary model.
- Science is a Way of Knowing
- The determinations arrived at through the conduct of forensic science forms a narrative, an explanation, of the phenomenon that had occurred – the unnatural death of Alexander and Rebecca Smith. Using the modern tools and techniques of today’s forensic scientists, students compare their findings with other class members and with the professional investigators who worked the case in the 1840s.
- Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems - (HS-LS4-1),(HSLS4-4)
- The forensic science labs conducted by students during this investigation reinforces the notion of an order and consistency in natural systems. The nature of fingerprints is such that fingerprints are unique, that they can be systematically identified and do not change over the duration of an individual’s lifetime. This is consistent.
- Scientific knowledge is based on the assumption that natural laws operate today as they did in the past and they will continue to do so in the future. (HS-LS4-1),(HSLS4-4)
- In Murder at Old Fields, students use the modern knowledge, skills and tools of forensic science and apply them to this criminal case from long ago, 1842. During the conduct of the labs, this assumption is affirmatively reinforced repeatedly: that the natural laws that operate today do so as they did in 1842.
- Science is a Human Endeavor - (HS-LS3-2),(HS-LS3-3),(New NYSED PE)
- What is particularly beneficial about Murder at Old Fields is that the notion that science is a human endeavor put to the task of human betterment is strongly reinforced. Here, science can help determine the perpetrators of an act of violence against two innocent human beings. Teachers are encouraged to have students and/or student/groups share their approaches and their findings with the other members of their class. Students do so with written, oral and video presentations.
- Science Addresses Questions About the Natural and Material World - (HS-ESS3-2)
- The two primary questions posed by the Murder at Old Fields lab activity are: How did this happen? and Who did it? In answering these questions, students properly learn and apply science.
“The point is to provide an instructional context that bridges tactics and strategies with practices and the nature of science, through understanding the role of systems, models, patterns, cause and effect, the analysis and interpretations of data, the importance of evidence with scientific arguments, and the construction of scientific explanations of the natural world.”
Phenomenon-Based Learning
Murder at Old Fields begins with what the NGSS calls a phenomenon and proceeds into a deepened engagement and context made possible by “Phenomenon-Based Learning.”
As stated in the NGSS: “By centering science education on phenomena that students are motivated to explain, the focus of learning shifts from learning about a topic to figuring out why or how something happens.”
Phenomenon-Based Learning is an foundational component of the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices from which the NYSP-12SLS were developed.
In Murder at Old Fields, the initiating phenomenon is death or, more specifically, a sudden or unnatural death – one that shortens the expected natural lifetime of an individual.
This is a suitable phenomenon in the NGSS framework because the anchoring phenomenon is understandable prior to the investigation. Alexander and Rebecca Smith did die in their Old Fields farmhouse, this is fact, but the students must further investigate to discover how and by whom.
The students do so in an ordered, step-by-step process to determine how this phenomenon occurred.
Anchored as it is in this real event, Murder at Old Fields helps move students away from what the NGSS calls “decontextualized knowledge that students are unable to apply” in other applications. Rather, Murder at Old Fields helps students “build more usable and generative knowledge” - problem-solving techniques that can be applied to other in-depth investigations.
The investigation and explanation of an unnatural death and the solving of the crime that caused it is certainly a compelling phenomena that, as is stated in the NGSS guidelines, “students find interesting, relevant and consequential” to support their engagement. Because the case of Alexander and Rebecca Smith is a real case from history involving actual people and an actual place - this makes it all the more compelling for the students.
This becomes the anchoring phenomenon which is followed and closely supported by investigative phenomenon throughout the Murder at Old Fields lab activities.
In these ways and others, Murder at Old Fields strongly encourages the learning and application of science because it is grounded in phenomenon.
Storylines
Murder at Old Fields also strongly supports the concept of “Storylines” as set forth in the NGSS standards.
“A storyline is a coherent sequence of lessons, in which each step is driven by students' questions that arise from their interactions with phenomena.”
The concept of “Storylines” is a featured component of the NGSS from which the NYSP-12SLS were developed.
The first lesson in Murder at Old Fields is "The Story of the Crime." This is the proper first lesson in the activity because it provides the context for the students to begin their investigation through the conduct of science applied to the details of the narrative of the crime presented in this first lesson.
Then each of the science labs begins with a well-written, graphically-rich lesson for that activity (Hair Analysis, Blood Typing, etc.). The student is then directed to take an online quiz to demonstrate their mastery of the content. The students then moves into the crime scene where they seek and find evidence at the farmhouse. Once they have collected all the evidence, the student goes into the virtual lab where they conduct their analysis of and, if required, experiments on the evidence found on location and the control samples that are provided to them.
In this way the student systematically works his or her way through each of the science labs methodically building their case and re-creating the narrative of the crime events. As they do so, their results are stored digitally in their online Gradebook and in their online Case File.
When all the science labs are complete, the student submits a summary of their investigation in a short written report. Here they choose the culprit and support their conclusion with the evidence and determinations arrived at through their investigations in the lab.
In this way, Murder at Old Fields strongly supports the NGSS standard of Storylines in that the student moves in a structured and systematic way through the context for the crime and the science labs always working toward a real-world conclusion supported by facts. It’s an opportunity for the student’s own curiosity and ingenuity to 'build a case' as to who may have committed the crime, very much like an actual forensics investigator, a determination that arises from the student’s interaction with the phenomenon, not the instructor’s.
Mathematics
The NGSS recognizes the connection between mathematics and science and this is reflected in the connections the NYSP-12SLS makes to the New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for Math.
“Science is a quantitative discipline, so it is important for educators to ensure that students’ science learning coheres well with their learning in mathematics.”
The three CCSSM (Common Core State Standards for Math) practice standards most directly relevant to science are:
- Reason abstractly and quantitatively - In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Spatter Lab, students measure the elongation and the spines of the blood drops to help measure the height of the blood from the surface and the direction in which the blood was moving.
- Use appropriate tools strategically - Conducting the labs, students use a variety of tools: microscopes, rulers, protractors, forceps, and a variety of digital tools as well, including a digital microscope and a digital data recording devices. These tools are used strategically throughout the conduct of the various lab activities as they lead through the comprehensive investigation of the crime.
- Attend to precision - In the Murder at Old Fields Blood Spatter Lab, students must precisely measure the angle at which a blood droplet strikes a surface, called the angle of impact. They measure the length of the spines, the pointed edges of a stain that radiate out to form the spatter, and the diameter of each droplet. Precises measurements and notations of these mathematical values provide essential information about from whom the blood droplet has originated.
Literacy
In the 2017 update to New York State’s New York State Next Generation Grades 6-12 Learning Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, state educators recognize the “Shared Responsibility for Literacy Development.”
The document states:
“Although literacy development certainly resides in the domain of the English Language Arts classroom, teachers in other disciplines have recognized the importance of literacy to their own subject areas. Concurrent with the recent revision of the English Language Arts standards was the revision of the standards for Grades 6-12 Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. The intent is for these two sets of standards to work together. In this way, teachers from across the curriculum can plan their individual lessons knowing that they have common expectations for their students’ literacy, as they pursue success in each of the content areas.”
For the most part, Murder at Old Fields presents “informational” text - text such as science lessons and lab procedures. But it also presents what might be considered “literary” texts.
For example, Murder at Old Fields requires students to read the “story of the crime” lesson which places the event in historical context and introduces the reader to the “characters” in the story: the suspects and the victims. Murder at Old Fields also presents primary documents for the students to read and understand. These include the actual coroner’s report written on the condition of the bodies after they were discovered, contemporaneous newspaper articles reporting on the event, the depositions of the witnesses for trial and the transcript of the trial itself.
New York State Reading Standards (Literary and Informational Text) - Revised 2017
Reading Standards
Key Ideas and Details
- #
- Standard
- How Murder at Old Fields Addresses this standard
- 9-10R1
- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly/implicitly and make logical inferences; develop questions for deeper understanding and for further exploration. (RI&RL)
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson of Murder at Old Fields, students are directed to compare the documents that make up the historical record of the actual crime - such as contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the event - with the findings of their own investigation. This requires a close reading of the primary documents included in this lesson and a detailed reference to these details when writing their report.
- 9-10R2
- Determine one or more themes or central ideas in a text and analyze its development, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; objectively and accurately summarize a text. (RI&RL)
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson, students are directed to compare the documents that make up the historical record of the actual crime - such as contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the event - with the findings of their own investigation. The primary argument or central idea of these primary documents is that an individual, one of the suspects in the Murder at Old Fields activity, is guility of the crime. Facts and evidence support this main argument made by the prosecutors and the judge in the trial. Then in a short written report, the students are directed to affirm or dispute this argument based on their findings.
- 9-10R3
- Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text... In informational texts, analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or argument, including the sequence, the introduction and development of ideas, and the connections that exist. (RI)
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson, one of the documents that the students read and analyze contains the transcript of the actual trial for the case. They read the spoken words of the District Attorney of Suffolk County, Selah B. Strong, Esq., and analyze the manner in which his argument is presented and the evidence that is cited to support that argument.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
- 9-10R8
- Delineate and evaluate an argument and specific claims in a text, assessing the validity or fallacy of key statements by examining whether the supporting evidence is relevant and sufficient. (RI&RL)
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson, one of the documents that the students read and analyze contains the transcript of the actual trial for the case. They read the spoken words of the District Attorney of Suffolk County, Selah B. Strong, Esq. and note the evidence that is cited in his presentation. The students are directed to affirm or dispute the original prosecutorial findings in a short written report based on the findings of their own investigation.
Writing Standards
Text Types and Purposes
- 9-10W1
- Write arguments to support claims that analyze substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
- At the conclusion of their investigation, students are directed to write a short report summarizing their determinations. This report states their conclusions supported coherently by evidence and the data from their lab reports in an articulate demonstration of their mastery of these science concepts.
- 9-10W2
- Write informative / explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson, students are directed to compare the documents that make up the historical record of the actual crime - such as contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the event and the transcripts of the original trial - with the findings of their own investigation. The students are directed to affirm or dispute the original prosecutorial findings in a short written report.
- 9-10W3
- Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
- As a summary of their case, students are often directed by their instructor to re-create the narrative of the crime and they frequently do so through dramatic reenactments on video of the narrative and publish these to YouTube®. Before videotaping, these productions begin with a written production outline and a script to communicate the narrative.
- 9-10W5
- Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Apply the grade 9/10 Reading Standards to both literary and informational text, where applicable.
- During the conduct of Murder at Old Fields students engage with informational texts including contemporaneous newspaper articles reporting on the crime, the original coroner’s report, the transcripts of the depositions for the trial and the trial itself.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
- 9-10W6
- Conduct research to answer questions, including self-generated questions, or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate. Synthesize multiple sources, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
- The summary report students write and submit in the “Solve the Crime” lesson, draws from multiple sources including the written lessons from the science labs - such as Hair Analysis or Blood Typing - the primary historical documents they have read - such as the transcripts from the historical trial and “The Crime” lesson which provides important cultural and regional context for the time period and the significant persons associated with the crime, such as the victims and the suspects.
- 9-10W7
- Gather relevant information from multiple sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas; avoid plagiarism and follow a standard format for citation.
- Students access multiple sources of information including transcribed testimony from many witnesses, suspects and experts pertinent to this case, articles from journalists reporting at the time, and the student’s own on-site evidence that they’ve gathered at the virtual crime scene. All this data is synthesized by the student into the presentation of their summary of their investigation.
Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration
- 9-10SL1
- Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on complex topics, texts, and issues; express ideas clearly and persuasively, and build on those of others.
- Students conducting the Murder at Old Fields lab activity often work in groups and, as in the case of the Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP), collaborate remotely with their teacher and fellow students. In doing so, they are challenged to express their ideas clearly and persuasively, particularly in the case of the final written report, as to who may have committed the crime.
- 9-10SL2
- Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats (e.g., including visual, quantitative, and oral), evaluating the credibility, accuracy, and relevance of each source.
- Murder at Old Fields is a mix of technologies and media including digital and print text, digital and print images, video, interactive web content and video game environments. Students are required to integrate and evaluate content presented in these media to arrive at their determination based on their investigation.
- 9-10SL3
- Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric; identify any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
- In the “Historic Documents” lesson, students are directed to compare the documents that make up the historical record of the actual crime - such as contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the event and the transcripts of the original trial - with the findings of their own investigation. The students are directed to affirm or dispute the original prosecutorial findings in a short written report.
If the evidence they discover during their investigation does not comport with the conclusion reached by the investigators in the 1840s, their report will indicate this and why.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
- 9-10SL4
- Present claims, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically; organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- As a summary of their case, students are often asked by their instructor to re-create the narrative of the crime and they frequently do so through dramatic reenactments on video of the narrative and publish these to YouTube®.
In other cases, such as with teacher Britni Whitty and her class at Hardy Middle School in Washington D.C., the Murder at Old Fields case is used as the basis for a Mock Trial. After their investigation, students present their cases as prosecutors or defense attorneys using the evidence they have found and examined during their investigation.
- 9-10SL5
- Make strategic use of digital media and/or visual displays in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence, and to add elements of interest to engage the audience.
- The students in Nancy Kochis classroom from LaSalle-Peru Township High School, working together in groups, created a true-to-scale 3D model of the crime scene and farmhouse. Through the visualization of the crime scene in this manner, the students were better able to present the narrative of the crime in an understandable manner to the other students and the teacher.
Other student/groups re-create the narrative of the crime through dramatic reenactments on video that are published to YouTube®.
Still others have created Prezi presentations online to visualize their findings in a creative and engaging manner.
Texas - §112.20. Science, Grade 8, Adopted 2017
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are the state educational standards for every subject and grade level from kindergarten to twelfth grade. The expectations of §112.18-112.20 listed below address the subject of science and are expected to be implemented by school districts beginning with the 2018-2019 school year.
The challenge for administrators and curriculum supervisors in Texas districts now is how to help their students achieve the learning objectives outlined in the TEKS standards and do so in a fun and engaging manner.
Murder at Old Fields can help Texas educators do just that.
Murder at Old Fields is currently being used by teachers and students in Texas and around the U.S from grade 7-12 and up to community college, but, for the purposes of this standards matching tool prepared below for Texas educators, Learn Engines has chosen the Grade 8 standards for science, adopted in 2017.
Choose any of the options below to see how Murder at Old Fields matches the TEKS standards.
Scientific Investigation and Reasoning
In block quotes below, see some of the strands in TEKS-Science Grade 8 followed by the way Murder at Old Fields addresses these strands:
“To develop a rich knowledge of science and the natural world, students must become familiar with different modes of scientific inquiry, rules of evidence, ways of formulating questions, ways of proposing explanations, and the diverse ways scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on evidence derived from their work.”
The essential question for students conducting the Murder at Old Fields Lab activity is Who committed the crime? In order to answer that question, the students must ask themselves: How can I determine who committed the crime? And then, through a series of lessons and lab activities, they learn the science, apply the science, gather and interpret data and come to a reasoned determination based on evidence. In Murder at Old Fields, the questions arise from the need to solve a problem.
"All investigations require a research question, careful observations, data gathering, and analysis of the data to identify the patterns that will explain the findings."
In Murder at Old Fields, students conduct close analysis and interpretation of data for the evidence and the control samples and accurately record their findings. The students’ determinations as to whom a piece of evidence might be associated with and ultimately who may have committed the crime are based on and supported by evidence – not speculation. In short, students make and defend a claim based on evidence and thereby come to understand the difference between cause and correlation.
"Students should understand that certain types of questions can be answered by investigations, and the methods, models, and conclusions built from these investigations change as new observations are made. Models of objects and events are tools for understanding the natural world and can show how systems work. Models have limitations and based on new discoveries are constantly being modified to more closely reflect the natural world."
If the initial analysis of some of the evidence gathered in Murder at Old Fields is tending toward a conclusion, students are compelled to withhold final determination until all the evidence and control samples have been analyzed. Students use the map of the crime scene, a primary model, as the framework for the entire lab activity. As the evidence, analysis and determinations construct the narrative of the crime, it must be cogently plotted within the framework of this primary model.
Knowledge and Skills
- (B1) The student, for at least 40% of instructional time, conducts laboratory and field investigations following safety procedures and environmentally appropriate and ethical practices. The student is expected to:
- (B1a) demonstrate safe practices during laboratory and field investigations as outlined in Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards.
Murder at Old Fields includes complete lessons for the teacher and student for each of the labs. The online version includes an auto-graded multiple choice quiz for each lesson to affirm the student's mastery of the lesson knowledge. But well over 40% of each lesson is devoted to the data acquisition, data recording, data analysis and the experiments for each lab.
The procedures for the lab activities in both the Teacher and Student booklet includes safety instructions as per the Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards.
- (B1b) practice appropriate use and conservation of resources, including disposal, reuse, or recycling of materials.
- The Murder at Old Fields real-world kit includes two categories of items: consumable and reusable. The consumable items include the evidence for the case, such as hair or blood samples. These are single use items. The consumable items are the tools for conducting the labs such as forceps, pipets, coverslips and slides. These can be used by the teachers and students class after class requiring only a simple cleaning. In many cases, teachers will supplement these reusable tools with similar items they have on hand in the school lab. When it's time to re-purchase items for the Murder at Old Fields kit, teachers or departments can buy only a what they need through the purchase of refill kits - refills for either consumables or reusables.
- (B2)The student uses scientific practices during laboratory and field investigations. The student is expected to:
- (B2a) plan and implement comparative and descriptive investigations by making observations, asking well defined questions, and using appropriate equipment and technology.
-
The investigation of a crime scene is an ideal opportunity to teach the skills of a descriptive investigation. The Texas Educational Agency (TEA) defines a descriptive investigation in this way: "Descriptive investigations use careful observations and measurements to develop findings."
At the Murder at Old Fields crime scene, students conduct close observation of the scene, employing a magnifying glass to help observe that which cannot be seen with the unaided eye. Students then collect these items of interest, the data from the crime scene, and examine it in greater detail in the lab.
In the case of the "Hair Analysis" Lab, for example, students study the hair control samples and the hair evidence for their characteristics including the scale pattern of the cuticle and the pattern and structure of the medulla. This data becomes the raw material that constitutes the "narrative of the crime" through the use of the "Case File" tool of Murder at Old Fields. This narrative provides a factual and accurate description of the evidence, events and persons which make up the crime scene.
Forensic science generally, and Murder at Old Fields particularly, is a natural means through which comparative investigations can be made. This is undertaken through the comparison of control samples with evidence that is found on location.
In the "Fingerprint Analysis" lab, for example, control samples from the four suspects and two victims are compared with fingerprints that have been found on location. Because conditions on location are not controlled, fingerprint samples found there are often partial, incomplete or damaged. Students learn how to compare a complete print with an incomplete print under different conditions.
As part of a comparative investigation, students may pursue a possible hypothesis, such as that of a particular suspect, in a particular manner, having committed the crime. Comparisons of evidence with control samples of people known to be associated with the event can help the student to affirm or disprove their hypothesis.
The essential question for students conducting the Murder at Old Fields Lab activity is Who committed the crime? In order to answer that question, the students must ask themselves: How can I determine who committed the crime? And then, through a series of lessons and lab activities, they learn the science, apply the science, gather and interpret data and come to a reasoned determination based on evidence.
To do so, students use microscopes, rulers, protractors, forceps, and a variety of digital tools as well, including a digital microscope and digital data recording devices. These tools are used strategically throughout the conduct of the various lab activities as they lead through the comprehensive investigation of the crime.
- (B2b) design and implement experimental investigations by making observations, asking well defined questions, formulating testable hypotheses, and using appropriate equipment and technology;
-
In the Murder at Old Fields "Blood Spatter" lab, students conduct experiments with blood samples by dropping them from various heights and from various directions. They then measure the elongation of the blood drops and the spines that extend from them to help determine the height from the surface at which the blood was dropped and the direction in which the blood was moving.
Students learn that, because blood is a fluid, it responds as all fluids do, according to the laws of physics. These laws and their effects are repeatable and predictable. Students conduct experiments with the motion of blood and how it is effected by an object at rest, such as a hard floor surface or a wall. These experiments, conducted under controlled circumstances, help to determine the characteristics of blood spatter found as evidence at the scene of the crime, such as speed, direction and source of the blood.
- (B2c) collect and record data using the International System of Units (SI) and qualitative means such as labeled drawings, writing, and graphic organizers;
-
In the Murder at Old Fields "Blood Spatter" Lab, students precisely measure the angle at which a blood droplet strikes a surface, called the angle of impact. They measure the length of the spines - the pointed edges of a stain that radiate out to form the spatter - and the diameter of each droplet. Precise measurements and notations of these mathematical values provide essential information about the height of the blood from the surface and the direction in which the blood was moving. This data is recorded using the the International System of Units (SI).
Later in the activity, the data from this lab and the other labs will help to inform the determination reached in the "Choose the Culprit" lesson. In this lesson students write a short report recounting the narrative of the crime supported by the data derived from the evidence and control samples in the labs.
- (B2d) construct tables and graphs, using repeated trials and means, to organize data and identify patterns;
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The data for all the labs in the Murder at Old Fields forensic science lab activity are presented by the students in table format.
In the Murder at Old Fields online activity, students make use of the "Case Study" tool. Here, all the photos of the evidence gathered on location are collected in a single organized presentation so that, as the student advances through the activity, the data and interim determinations of "ownership" of these evidence items, can be synthesized into a whole. The pattern of activity can then become more readily apparent and the narrative of the crime can become known.
- (B2e)analyze data to formulate reasonable explanations, communicate valid conclusions supported by the data, and predict trends.
- When all the science labs are complete, students submit a summary of their investigation in a short written report for the "Choose the Culprit" lesson. Here, students choose the culprit and support their conclusion with the evidence and determinations arrived at through their investigations in the lab.
- (B3)The student uses critical thinking, scientific reasoning, and problem solving to make informed decisions and knows the contributions of relevant scientists. The student is expected to:
- (B3a) analyze, evaluate, and critique scientific explanations by using empirical evidence, logical reasoning, and experimental and observational testing, so as to encourage critical thinking by the student;
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In the “Historic Documents” lesson of the Murder at Old Fields online activity, students are directed to compare the documents that make up the historical record of the actual crime - such as contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the event and the transcripts of the trial of 1842 - with the findings of their own investigation.
This requires a critique of the evidence and logic presented by the actual prosecutors in the case with their own data and applied science.
- (B3b) use models to represent aspects of the natural world such as an atom, a molecule, space, or a geologic feature;
- Students use the map of the crime scene as the framework for the entire lab activity. As the evidence, analysis and determinations build to construct the narrative of the crime, it must be based cogently within the framework of this primary model.
- (B3c) identify advantages and limitations of models such as size, scale, properties, and materials;
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Through its use, students recognize the advantage of the crime scene map as a means of measuring, organizing and codifying the physical space and the items of significance therein. Throughout the lab activity, this map becomes an essential in constructing the narrative of the crime.
Countervailing this usefulness, however, students are also confronted with the limitations of the model. The crime scene map in the real-world lab activities is a 2D model, for example, with only an X and Y axis. It lacks the Z axis, depth, and also lacks the fourth dimension - time.
- (B3d) relate the impact of research on scientific thought and society, including the history of science and contributions of scientists as related to the content
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One of the signature features of Murder at Old Fields is that students apply the modern tools of forensic science, such as DNA analysis, to a case from long ago. So, for example, in 1842, the year of the crime, even the notion that people could be identified by their unique fingerprint patterns was unknown.
So throughout the conduct of Murder at Old Fields, students are immersed in the awareness of the progress of knowledge and science, that what is commonly accepted as scientifically true today was unknown in the past.
Yet these modern scientific facts and practices can be applied - retroactively, as it were - to a time in which, although they were unknown, are nevertheless true and can be applied with a modern degree of certainty.
- (B4) The student knows how to use a variety of tools and safety equipment to conduct science inquiry. The student is expected to:
- (B4a) use appropriate tools, including lab journals/notebooks, beakers, meter sticks, graduated cylinders, anemometers, psychrometers, hot plates, test tubes, spring scales, balances, microscopes, thermometers, calculators, computers, spectroscopes, timing devices, and other necessary equipment to collect, record, and analyze information;
- Conducting the labs, students use a variety of tools: microscopes, rulers, protractors, forceps, and a variety of digital tools as well, including a digital microscope and digital data recording devices. These tools are used strategically throughout the conduct of the various lab activities as they lead through the comprehensive investigation of the crime.
- (B4b) use preventative safety equipment, including chemical splash goggles, aprons, and gloves, and be prepared to use emergency safety equipment, including an eye/face wash, a fire blanket, and a fire extinguisher.
- The Murder at Old Fields Teacher's Guide is complete with instructions and reminders about the safe conduct of each lab.