After explaining my idea to my
cooperating teacher Mr. Anderson as well as my university supervisor Dr. Ewing,
I received approval of my initial idea. Per the assignment, I was required to
write a formal proposal outlining my idea, how I would carry out the lesson,
how I would receive the professional development component, and how I would
evaluate the project. In order to gain a better understanding of forensic
chemistry and determine how I could work some of its principles into my
aquatics class, I contacted Mr. Baylor in early February and explained my idea.
I had already completed my science classroom observation with Mr. Baylor in
January. I observed his forensic chemistry course in January which sparked my
interest in utilizing forensics in my one of my classes.
I met with Mr. Baylor in early April
during a teacher in-service day. We met in his room and discussed my project
for an hour and a half. I refreshed Mr. Baylor’s memory of my ideas and
listened as he talked me through examples of things he has done and showed me
some possible resources I could use. He provided me with several handouts, worksheets,
ink pads, and published book resources to utilize. I left the meeting feeling
very confident in how I would finalize my forensics lesson. With Mr. Baylor’s
assistance, my final lesson would be as follows:
·
Set
up scenario that several fish in the tanks in the aquatics lab have suddenly
died
·
Determine
what was used to kill the fish (bleach)
·
Collect
fingerprints of possible suspects
·
Create
handout with information about possible subjects
·
Provide
clues for student use (fingerprints on bleach bottle, jacket, etc.)
·
Provide
water testing supplies for students to test contaminated water
·
Allow
students to determine suspect, motive, and means
·
Summarize
lesson with the creation of a newspaper article by students
Once I had the majority of my lesson
created, the other details came easily. The day before the lesson, I made sure
I had all necessary materials copied and the crime scene was set up. The day of
the lesson, I put the bleach into water samples I collected from the tanks. I
had the water testing kits displayed at the front of the classroom, as well as
pieces of evidence and fingerprints. I explained to students that 8 of the fish
died in the fish tanks and these pieces of evidence were found in the lab. As
Mr. Baylor suggested, I introduced the lesson as a mystery and made it as
realistic as possible. Students actually believed that fish died and were very
engaged in the lesson!
Reflecting on the lesson and the
entire professional development process, I have gained so much growth in
presenting inquiry, tying forensics concepts into natural resources, and maintaining
student interest throughout a lesson. Due to the mixed ability of my students,
I wanted to keep the mystery solvable. I didn’t want to give students too much
information and make it easy but I also didn’t want it to be too difficult that
they would give up easily. If I were doing this again, I would make sure to
choose a different individual as the criminal; choosing myself was too easy for
students to figure out. I would also provide students a copy of the
fingerprints I collected rather than having one copy. This was also a suggestion
for improvement by Mr. Baylor. I met with him after the lesson to debrief, talk
about what worked well, and ask for suggestions if I were to carry out this
lesson again. He thought I did a great job presenting the lesson and said I worked
will to accommodate all learners. He suggested I provide more detailed
descriptions and have more sources of possible evidence Overall, I thought this
was a great way for me to gain a deeper understanding of science and technology
principles and how they can be used in an agricultural classroom. It also allowed
me to collaborate with a professional in the field and expand my knowledge of
forensics. This was a great activity and with some modification, it will be a
great lesson to utilize in the future!
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