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

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. 

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