During next month's faculty meeting, the team will teach an elementary lesson to the staff. Upon completion, the team will lead the faculty through an activity of determining which design qualities were used and how they positively influence instruction. Solving mysteries can be a popular technique for teaching English, social studies, and science to middle and high school students. Teachers are finding that this strategy catches student attention in ways that a chemistry textbook or reader can't. The students begin by examining the crime scene, interviewing witnesses, and writing newspaper stories for their English class.
Students also read mysteries and compare the stories' sleuths with themselves.
Students in science class put the scientific method into practice and social studies classes learn about the law and due process. The students' enthusiasm for their criminal studies seems boundless as many of them meet in the evenings and on weekends to discuss strategies. For more information on solving mysteries, see Education Week, January 24, 2001. The content that students are expected to learn is aligned with state standards, mandated testing and other measures of student learning. The ideas, propositions, facts and insights presented are consistent with those generally agreed upon by scholars in those disciplines.