Paul E. Turtola
Lesson Plan #1 (Day One)
Initiation:
Today we begin detective work on a mystery story, "The Case of the Dentist's Patient", which we have already read in class. While we have looked at puzzles and have tried to guess at some answers to them, we will now embark on actual detective work to accurately solve the mystery.
Objective:
Students read a detective story and begin to solve the crime at hand by doing the following:
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- find clues, which may solve the case.
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- list important people that are a part of the story.
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- make a time line or plot list, which can track events in the story and thereby explain the mystery.
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- diagram and map out settings and events in the story.
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- draw pictures of room arrangements, clothing, or faces of people involved in the story.
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- chart each character's coming and goings throughout the course of the story.
After collecting vital information, students can begin to process their data, follow up on clues they have found, ask further questions, and finally, write their explanation on how they solved the case.
The Lesson:
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The class begins with a re-reading of "The Case of the Dentist's Patient", and has an ample supply of colored pencils, markers, rulers, graph paper, writing paper, construction paper, scissors and other art supplies at their disposal. Students are to work in pairs using whatever resources they can use to solve the case.
Assignment:
Collect as much information on this case by doing at least three items from the project list. If, after completing three items, you are unable to solve the case, attempt to do other items listed or work on one of your own ideas.
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1 Draw a diagram of all the locations mentioned in the story and plot each character's movements from place to place. Label each character with a colored marker, or paste a picture of the character on your diagram and draw a line, which follows his or her movement throughout the story.
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2 Make a list of each person involved in the case and write a paragraph or outline of notes, which have been accumulated, on each person. Write in detail about each person's physical description, past history, education, occupation, relationship to others, unusual habits, impediments, or anything else, which you find worth noting about in your investigation.
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3 Using a variety of reference tools, learn about places, people and things that are foreign to you as it applies to the story. If there is something that you are unfamiliar with, it will be very important to learn about such matters for your investigation to be thorough and accurate. Do not rely on guessing about the significance of uncertain things that pertain to the case. Use books, newspapers, atlases, encyclopedias, magazines, dictionaries and the Internet to learn. For instance, one particular term used in "The Case of the Dentist's Patient" is the use of the phrase "Sing-Sing". This phrase will be important to know about, and may enter into your ability to solve the case, so you should find out what it is and why it is meaningful to this story. Such research will be an important element in your final explanation of the facts when solving the case.
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4 Draw a picture of each character and include such important items as facial features, body parts, hair, eyes, accessories (eye glasses, jewelry, tattoos, piercing) and clothing.
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5 Make a timeline to track the events in the story in the chronological order in which they occurred. After the timeline is completed, compare events, people and times and construct a Venn diagram to shoe similarities and differences. By recording the data in this fashion, a visual presentation may enable you to see clearly what you are theorizing in your search for an answer.
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6 Re-enact one or two scenes of the story. This activity may unveil parts of the case that you hadn't thought about or been aware of from just reading about it. Bringing the case to life could give you a different perspective of different characters in the story, and may lead to a unique and surprising development, which will allow you to solve the case.
Closure:
Students will need to finish gathering information and complete their three project ideas for homework if they are unable to do the whole investigation in one class period. Students are to bring in all of their gathered data the next day in order to process their work and begin to construct their report which describes the solved case.
Lesson Plan #2 (Day Two)
Initiation:
Using the information gathered in the previous class, students begin to solve the case, report on their conclusion, and provide evidence to support their statement.
Objective:
Students solve the case by:
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- Reviewing the information they worked on in class and a t home.
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- Organizing their findings and preparing a guess sheet which outlines possibilities for answers and conclusions.
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- Deciding on the best possible answer to the crime with the data they have gathered and researched.
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- Writing a conclusive essay, which states their answer and provides supportive evidence.
The Lesson:
Each pair of students will work together, assemble all of their data, and study each other's homework. Using the graphs, diagrams, pictures and notes, each pair will compose a "guess" sheet, which should offer a number of possible answers to the case. This paper will be a good worksheet to bounce ideas around, try out theories and eliminate weak guesses from strong ones. Each guess will be stated plainly as a heading, and will include three or four items as sub headings that support the idea. If the need to break down the supporting items is needed, then further sub headers may be written. The objective here is to break down each statement into supporting ideas, and to detail the ideas until the answer of the case becomes logical and substantiated by evidence.
While the students create this guess sheet, the teacher reviews each pair's work by making sure the proper outline format is being used and that the ideas are clearly stated and supported by their data. Content is not as important in this part of their work: form and structure is what is to be concentrated on. By learning this kind of organization, students (unknowingly) prepare for their early skills in writing formal papers using the traditional methods of note taking, writing an outline, and eventual composition of drafts. Once students complete their guess sheet or outline, the teacher assigns the final report.
Closure:
For homework, students will select the strongest theory from their outline and write an essay explaining their answer to the case and how they solved it. In addition, all supportive evidence must be presented along with this well written statement. The teacher is to be provided with all of the pictures, graphs, timelines, etc. to show how the investigator has backed up his conclusions, and can be used later on as a classroom or hallway display for others to view.
"Maps and Treats", A Lesson Plan on Discovery
Initiation:
In one class period the class reviews the short detective story read in a previous class, and begins to learn map-making skills in order to solve the case. By using the previous knowledge gained in their social studies class on reading an atlas, students get an opportunity to put this knowledge to practical use in their introduction to detective work.
Objective:
At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:
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- Process information by reading a story and recording data graphically by means of making a map.
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- Chart clues in a different manner than they may be used to by plotting images on a drawn map, rather than by using words to describe them in a paragraph.
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- Appreciate that detective work relies on more than just concrete facts in a book, but also uses sensory work to achieve results.
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- Discern directions on a map, learn scale measurement, and understand distances as recorded by compass directions.
The Lesson:
At the start of the lesson students are provided with colored pencils, markers and graph paper. If scale rulers have been taught in an earlier class (perhaps by a math teacher who has instructed them to understand ratios and fractions), then they are used as well. A compass would be a welcome tool as well, and its introduction to the class would be a good way to ensure that students understand points of direction, as this is crucial to solving the case.
Divide the class into groups of four students each, where student reads the story and the others begin to assemble materials and take notes. Each student will divide the work so that each student is preparing data in a different method. One may chart locations mentioned in the story on a large piece of paper, while others record movements of characters and distances traveled. In each of the four days in which the story takes place, explicit directions have been given, and this must be recorded carefully as well as noting what events have taken place at each day's end. Students make lists of what the characters do each day, who they see, what places they pass along each journey, and where each trip ends.
The teacher must urge students to make a map which follows the instructions, and to take great care in making it an accurate one, for therein lies the secret of solving this puzzle. After each day's journey, a small surprise awaits the children in the story, with a big surprise to be awarded on the last day. The location of this big prize is the mystery, and only careful detective work will lead students to its resting-place. After accumulating four days worth of maps and clues, careful processing needs to be considered, and only then will the answer become apparent. Here is a review of each day's instructions:
Day One:
"Start at the well.
Walk one-half mile southeast.
Go one-half mile northeast.
Walk one-half mile southeast.
Go one-half mile northeast." 1
Day Two:
"Start at Main and Maple in town.
Go east one block;
north one block;
west one block;
south two blocks;
and east one block."2
Day Three:
"Go south one mile.
Go east one-half mile." 3
Day Four:
"Start where you were and do it again." 4
After following the puzzle's instructions, and recording their maps accordingly, students attempt to solve the puzzle to find the location of the big surprise.
Closure:
Each group of students, after reviewing their work, convene and discuss their answers to the puzzle and write a report of their results with an explanation of how they found the answer.
Online Lesson Plans: Detective Games
Initiation:
After spending a good deal of time reading detective stories and answering puzzles in the classroom, students can experience mysteries in other locations and use other resources to do detective work.
Objective:
Students gain skills in the following areas:
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- Navigate the World Wide Web for websites pertaining to detective fiction.
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- Read the newspaper in order to solve the puzzle.
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- Use resources to find answers that are not readily available.
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- Correspond with others playing the game.
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- Accomplish a task independently.
The Lesson:
This web site may be found at: http://www.4kids.org/detectives/
How do I become a 4Kids Detective?
To play the 4kids Detective game you will need this week's issue of www.4kids.org that appears in a newspaper (in Connecticut, there are these newspapers which carry the latest issue: Bristol Press, Connecticut Post, Danbury News Times, Manchester Journal Inquirer, Middletown Press, New Britain Herald).
To find the answers to the 4kids Detective's questions you will have to try and figure out which of the Web sites mentioned in the entire www.4kids.org issue might contain the answer. Then go to that Web site and find the answer. Each question is carefully worded to give you a clue about where to find it on the Web site. When you know all three answers, come back here and answer the questions below. An unanswered question is considered wrong. If all of your answers are correct, you can list your name as 4Kids Detectives of the Week. Good luck.
1. When did Peter the Great rule Russia?
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1437-1458
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1569-1601
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1689-1725
2. What are the 2 main types of African rock art?
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paintings and engravings
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paintings and sculptures
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engravings and sculptures
3. Fact or Fiction: The Galapagos Islands have never been connected to a continent.
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Fact
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Fiction
