Strategies

Investigating all the curriculum possibilities

If you are in a NSW school, visit the website to check out the curriculum guides.

Teachers from other states, territories and countries should use these as a guide to relevant curricula.

Also look at the resources available and read the information about how to prepare an Action plan.

Then prepare a teaching plan that best suits YOU.

Exploring the website

When you view the website for the first time, take some time to wander around. When the game goes live, let students explore and get to know how to use the interface.

Enjoy the metaphor of the Catchment HQ website, visit all the areas and become familiar with each one.

Teamwork

The task of solving the mystery is too big for the class to work on as individuals. They need to team up and rely on each other to provide the different pieces of the puzzle.

One of the joys of Murder under the Microscope (and one of its steepest learning curves for students) is that of learning to play as a team.

Prepare your students for teamwork

• Make sure everyone knows what their special task is.
• Provide time for teams to disseminate their knowledge to each other.
• Finally, wherever possible, acknowledge the fruits of teamwork.

Time management

You may be able to spend all week playing Murder under the Microscope or you may only see your class once a week. Regardless of your timetable constraints, getting the best from the game requires firm time management. You need to timetable everything then stick to your schedule.

The game falls into three phases:

• understanding the underlying issues
• the investigation
• the production of a plan.

Phase 1: Pre-investigation

In this phase it is important to give students opportunities to:

• gain an understanding of the interconnected nature of the environment
• work on the activity cards (in the Resources section) which will demonstrate and underscore the environmental issues
• familiarise themselves with the 10 possible crime sites.

For time-starved secondary school pupils, the crime site familiarisation could be a homework task.

What is essential is that students are familiar with catchments and their issues, have a passing knowledge of the crime site (or know where to find it) and are ready for the investigation.

Phase 2: The investigation

The investigation stage is a heady experience. The eco-crime scenario with its variety of characters and events is fictitious. The victims and villains need to be researched. Clues arrive daily and should be collected and tested. Agent X may pop up with his diabolical quizzes and cryptic clues.

As the students learn about the villains, victims and crime sites, they should have opportunities to demonstrate their learning and hypothesise about what happened. The whole team (class) needs to build up plausible stories or scenarios that involve a correct victim, villain and crime site. This will involve whole-class discussion and evaluation of the research findings.

If they find they are missing vital information in their particular scenario, they should email Catchment HQ’s science experts with a question. They should present their scenarios to the rest of the class and brainstorm the possible scenarios. Finally, they need to sit down and view the last videos and messages with all that knowledge behind them so that they can make their accusation.

The weeks will vanish before your eyes. Sit down with your timetable to schedule this second stage now because, when the investigation starts, you just won’t have time.

Finally, remember that the accusation must be made via the website. Faxed or emailed accusations will not be accepted.

Phase 3: The plan

While the third stage of the game is not compulsory, it does synthesise all that has been learnt together in the one document. It is also the practical outcome of much precious teamwork. For both reasons, it is a truly valuable class document that can be shared with other groups.

Asking questions

This is always a tricky area for student investigators. From the beginning of the investigation, Catchment HQ provides science experts to answer science-based questions from puzzled investigators.

Posing scientific questions is often difficult for students. Take time to explain how investigators should frame a question. Every question should relate to a victim, a villain, a crime site or an issue.

It could be a simple question regarding the life cycle of a victim, such as ‘How many eggs does the kingfisher lay?’

It could be a more complex question that might help support a timetable for the crime, such as ‘How long does it take for a dam to affect the river vegetation downstream?’

The better questions will involve at least two of these areas as investigators strive to build their scenarios, such as:

• What would happen to the Murray Cod if there were a dam on the river?
• If stormwater flowed into the river for a day, how long would the turbidity last?
• Are there sedimentation problems or any turbidity in the Swan River?

Discuss and monitor the investigators’ questions and experts’ responses. This will help the investigators improve the quality of their own scientific inquiries, and it can provide clues as to where other teams are heading in their investigation.

Avoid questions that can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. These questions will not provide the team with helpful information. The science experts will not answer questions such as ‘What is the villain?’

Flexibility

Murder under the Microscope has been devised to support the teacher in the classroom. You are maestro, motivator—the main person. The game will always offer complex teaching opportunities. How much you avail yourself of this is entirely up to you and your needs.

Dealing with Agent X

Agent X is an additional game element and is not crucial to the investigation. He provides an opportunity for students to develop skills in handling conflicting information. Initially, he sneaked onto the website as a one-off game element. The investigators’ responses to this mean and capricious figure have ensured his return each year.

Agent X proposes to give investigators a clue in return for answering his quiz correctly. His quizzes are designed to reinforce the learning areas of the game and to push students to research unknown areas. They are also arbitrary. He does not brook alternative views. Arguing with Agent X is a futile exercise. The clues are usually enigmatic and may not be immediately helpful.

But dealing with Agent X can and does cause problems. The reasons are simple. Every once in a while Agent X’s answer is contradicted by an alternative answer from another impeccable source. What can we say? We live in a post-modern world where truth is relative and academics can only take sides and slug it out.

The advice to teachers is: take up Agent X’s challenge knowingly.

If you feel that your students will be unable to cope with the arbitrary nature of Agent X then don’t go there. Your investigators will still be able to solve the mystery without Agent X.

If you and your students decide to take up the challenge then discuss with the class the perils of both Agent X and his quiz. Advise them as to the ‘take it or leave it’ nature of Agent X and prepare the class to be philosophical in the face of unfairness and downright meanness.

Whatever you do, whimpering to Agent X about how wrong he is should not be contemplated. He doesn’t care!