How to Teach a Crime Lab

A crime lab is a great way to teach students about logical reasoning. It is a fun activity that can be used as a reward while still serving an educational purpose. It also teaches students about the basics of criminal investigations. Read on to learn how to teach a crime lab.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Paper
• Computer
• Printer
• Pictures of several “suspects”
• Fibers from fabric
• Hairs
• Muddy shoes
• Handwriting samples

Preparation

1. Create a scenario. Petty theft and vandalism occurring at school are popular topics. For example, you could use a scenario where someone stole a copy of the test or a piece of equipment from the classroom while you, the teacher, were out for a few minutes.
2. Create a list of suspects. Each suspect should have a description, a motive and an alibi. Use humorous names, and make sure none of the suspects are too similar to any of your own students.
3. Create a story for each suspect. It should tell what the suspect was doing at the time the crime was committed, and whether or not he was guilty.
4. Come up with several pieces of evidence. Some types of evidence you can use are footprints, fingerprints, hair, fiber, eyewitness evidence and handwriting.
5. Make sure that each piece of evidence points to at least one suspect. At least one piece of evidence should point to more than one person to keep things interesting. For example, a blue fiber could point to one suspect's blue sweater and another suspect's blue skirt.
6. Do not have all of the evidence point to one suspect. For example, a student could have left a fiber from his sweater or a piece of hair near the teacher's desk when he was talking to her teacher earlier, and not necessarily be the guilty party.
7. Label the evidence with clear, yellow evidence tags.

Solving the Crime

8. When the students come in, introduce the crime. Explain what has happened, who is suspected, what motives they have, and what alibis they have. Include descriptions of each of the suspect's clothing if it is important.
9. Discuss the meaning of each piece of evidence in turn and who it seems to point to.
10. Have the students meet in small groups and discuss who they think committed the crime and why.
11. Come together and vote on the guilty party.
12. Read the stories you have written about the suspects. Discuss why the students were correct or incorrect.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not have all of the evidence point to one suspect. Real criminal investigations often have pieces of evidence that are misleading or incidental; yours should too. For example, a suspect could have left a fiber from his sweater or a strand of hair near the teacher's desk when she was talking to him earlier, and not necessarily be the guilty party.