Civil+War+Murder+Mystery+Project+Based+Learning+Project

=** Civil War Murder Mystery Project Based Learning Project **=

**Grade Level:** 8th grade
**Subject:** Multi-disciplinary PBL End of Year Project **Iste Standards:** • **1b.** Students create original works as a means of personal or group expression. • **2b.** Students communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. • **2d.** Students contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems. • **4b.** Students plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project. • **4c.** Students collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions. • **4d.** Students use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions. • **5d.** Students exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity. • **6b.** Students select and use applications effectively and productively. **Learners:** 2 sections of 8th graders (about 40-50 students), 2-3 students on IEP’s, 2-3 on 504’s, and 3 ELL students, visual, verbal, logical, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences **Objectives:** • **Earth Science:** to analyze earth materials and be able to recognize the difference between soil and sedimentary rock samples • **Algebra:** to be able to use different formulas for determining the time of death to use the measurements of teeth and fingerprints in order to identify victims and suspects • **American History:** to investigate the attitudes that prevailed among both the former Confederate loyal citizens and the Union citizens during the time of reconstruction immediately following the Civil War • **English:** to be able to write a coherent police report clearly stating the final facts as well as the conjectures of what they think took place
 * Lesson Plan:** Students will be transferred back to the late 1860’s to investigate the crime scene of a murdered doctor. Before their collection of evidence, students will first have to complete Rookie CSI training on CSI: Web Adventures. They must first complete the worksheet on the website as formative assessment. Ballistics, fingerprints, handwriting analyses, and especially ethics portions of the training activity will be the most important pieces. After completing the introduction to forensic science, students will be paired up with a partner to investigate the scene of the crime: A doctor has been murdered in Atlanta, Georgia in 1868. Students will take pictures of the crime scene, collect evidence, determine the time of death by the temperature of the “body”, and interview witnesses, friends, family, acquaintances, and potential suspects. Students will do lab analysis of dirt specimens and sedimentary rock lodged in the suspects’ boots to compare them to the dirt and rock near the victim’s body. Interviews with family, friends, and acquaintances will reveal hostile feelings between the Union soldiers that are present during the Reconstruction and the local former Confederate sympathizers. Students must use ethics in order to determine what really happened from what those who have strong biases against individuals are saying happened. Students will be required to write up their individual police reports following the Sample.[[file:Sample Police Report.doc]] Police reports will be an individual assignment. For the summative assessment of the project, students will work together in groups of ten to create a movie of the murder trial of the individual or group of individuals they determined were the guilty party. Each member of the group will be assigned a different role, such as prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, defendant, judge, witnesses for the prosecution, and witnesses for the defense. Each team will need to determine which character from the past was guilty of the murder and plan the script from that. Students may use the class wiki Algebra Wiki as an organizer for their plan. The 8th grade teachers will be the jury as well as the assessors. A detailed rubric[[file:CivilWarRubric.xls]] will be the format for determining the grade. Each group will be assessed for their movie representation and each individual will be given a personal team peer summative form.[[file:teampeersummativeform.pdf]]

**Required Time:** 2 weeks at the end of the school year

**Bloom’s Taxonomy** **Knowledge:** Students will need to know soils, sedimentary rocks, the formula for finding time of death by temperature, how to measure teeth, footprints, and fingerprints. **Comprehension:** Students will need to understand how to use the measurements and what numbers to plug in to the formula, and students will need to understand the state of the United States after the Civil War during the Reconstruction Period. **Application:** Students will be able to recognize how the attitudes during the Reconstruction Period could be a factor or cause of the murder. **Synthesis:** Students will be able to compare soil samples and sedimentary rock samples to determine if there is a match that could belong to the killer. **Evaluation:** Students will be able to take all the evidence and eye-witness account to make a nonbiased, ethical decision of who was responsible for the crime.

I have not had an opportunity to complete this project as it is designed to be performed the last 2 weeks of the school year. As we have just begun Professional Learning Communities this year so we haven't had time to design a multi-disciplinary project such as this for this school year. The plan is to revise this project using the expertise of all 8th grade teachers involved in the project and then try it out in May of 2012-2013.