Our AP Biology class recently dissected fetal pigs as a way to interactively learn about the systems of the body. After doing so, we split up into groups of five to create a CSI mystery on how one of the pigs died. We created a story line, made up interactive clues, and set up a presentation where the class went to each of the stations to find the clues and attempt to figure out who killed the pig, how, and what body system was affected.
I worked with Amanda, Bharathi, Abi, and Jen S. Our system was the immune system, and we called our dead pig Bob Bacon. We set up his death as a murder mystery, starting off with a Breaking News TV Clip explaining that scientist Bob Bacon has died, and that the police had five possible suspects – all of which were his neighbors. The class was then asked to help out with investigations by visiting each of the “homes” of these suspects and determining who could be guilty based on the timeline, Bob’s medical record, and outside information. After spending about 7 minutes at each table, we reconvened as a class and asked everyone to collaborate and guess who the murderer may have been. We then released two more Breaking News Forecasts, which led the class to conclude that one of the scientists was responsible for giving Bob Bacon HIV 10 years ago, and that it was actually Bob’s cat who killed Bob by transmitting a disease. This disease, called toxoplasmosis, was able to kill Bob because his immune system was weakened from the HIV, which had eventually turned into AIDS. Here is our intro video which set up the scene for the project!
This was definitely one of the hardest projects I have ever had to do. The fact that it was a group project, even though I love all the members of our class, made it that much more difficult. Unfortunately, I was sick during most of the time that we got to work on this project during class, so our group was forced to utilize social media in order to communicate. Even with that disadvantage, I would say that we still did a great job! I enjoyed the creativity allowed through this project. I was able to throw in a lot of special touches and puns (such as the pigs name – ex. Connor Mc. Snorts) which delighted me and (hopefully) amused everyone else. It was interesting that we had to make some sort of wild connection that was so abstract that the class would most likely not be able to guess it at first, and THEN have to actually make them guess it within the time period. I am disappointed that I was not able to see the other groups’ projects (I hate being sick!) but I can only imagine that they were fantastic!
MicroSCOPE It Out 