TY - JOUR
T1 - Activities for middle school students to sleuth a chemistry "whodunit" and investigate the scientific method
AU - Meyer, Audrey F.
AU - Knutson, Cassandra M.
AU - Finkenstaedt-Quinn, Solaire A.
AU - Gruba, Sarah M.
AU - Meyer, Ben M.
AU - Thompson, John W.
AU - Maurer-Jones, Melissa A.
AU - Halderman, Sharon
AU - Tillman, Ayesha S.
AU - Destefano, Lizanne
AU - Haynes, Christy L.
PY - 2014/3/11
Y1 - 2014/3/11
N2 - The recent increased public interest in forensic science, sparked in part by television shows such as CSI and Bones, presents an opportunity for science educators to engage students in forensic chemistry-themed activities to introduce fundamental concepts, such as the scientific method. In an outreach setting, mysteries were used as a way to engage middle school students to select forensics tests, form hypotheses, make observations while conducting the tests, consider positive and negative controls, and use the results to reach conclusions. Student data shows that the outreach activities generally increase student understanding of the scientific method. These activities have been translated from outreach activities into accessible activities for middle and high school classrooms.
AB - The recent increased public interest in forensic science, sparked in part by television shows such as CSI and Bones, presents an opportunity for science educators to engage students in forensic chemistry-themed activities to introduce fundamental concepts, such as the scientific method. In an outreach setting, mysteries were used as a way to engage middle school students to select forensics tests, form hypotheses, make observations while conducting the tests, consider positive and negative controls, and use the results to reach conclusions. Student data shows that the outreach activities generally increase student understanding of the scientific method. These activities have been translated from outreach activities into accessible activities for middle and high school classrooms.
KW - Analytical Chemistry
KW - Elementary/Middle School Science
KW - Forensic Chemistry
KW - High School/Introductory Chemistry
KW - Laboratory Instruction
KW - Problem Solving/Decision Making
KW - Public Understanding/Outreach
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84897792461&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84897792461&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/ed4006562
DO - 10.1021/ed4006562
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84897792461
SN - 0021-9584
VL - 91
SP - 410
EP - 413
JO - Journal of Chemical Education
JF - Journal of Chemical Education
IS - 3
ER -