Mystery at Old Fields™ Online Forensic Science Lab Activity

Lessons that explore forensic science according to National Science Education Standards.

• Auto-graded quizzes that easily and quickly gauge a student’s mastery of the science lessons

• Online 3D virtual crime scene of a historically-accurate rural American 19th century farmhouse
• Online virtual lab where the evidence is analyzed and the data recorded
• Easy-to-use online accounts where students can assess their results and teachers monitor student performance
• Lesson plan function to allow teachers to enable some or all of the online labs based on class schedule and curriculum needs

Mystery at Old Fields™ is an online forensic science activity that contains eight lessons and five lab activities for middle and high school students based on the 1842 double-murder of Alexander and Rebecca Smith at their farmhouse in Old Fields, Long Island. The activity is problem-based learning (PBL) that compels the application of science and is aligned with grade-appropriate NGSS standards. This is an online activity that students access via a web browser on any device connected to the internet including desktops, laptops, tablets, Chromebooks, or smartphones.

Mystery at Old Fields™ features multiple scenarios, each of which presents a case pointing to a different culprit. It’s up to you as the teacher as to whether the students in your class will do the same scenario, a randomly assigned scenario or a scenario assigned to each student by you via the teacher dashboard.

Lessons and labs include:
The story (intro to the details of the crime, victims, and suspects)
Hair analysis
Blood typing
Fingerprint analysis
Footprint analysis
DNA – basic 
DNA – advanced
Solve the crime

Accessories information: Mystery at Old Fields™ features single-use licenses which allow one student to access the activity. If a teacher does not already have a Mystery at Old Fields™ teacher's license, the purchase of student licenses will automatically create a free teacher's license for the teacher. 

Ordering information: Orders must include the end user teacher’s name, email address, and school name.