Wildlife CSI - First Run

Ok, so this was the first multi group session in the Sanctuary for the year. I also had spent a lot of time incorporating activities that would develop collaborative and critical thinking skills in students, in line with the NPDL Framework we've been trialing. The Wildlife CSI experience has needed some work in this space for some time, so it was good to spend the time and end up with a new experience (although it really needs an App, so kids aren’t using workbooks).

I had develop the session so that students would work in a small team of CSI agents, and work through the 6 steps of the scientific process. The workbook we developed encouraged students to look at the crime scene and document the evidence that could tell a story. There were three activities in the session (click for lesson plan)–

Wildlife CSI

The Evidence

The Story

Hi Ho... a 'Sciencing' we'll go... 

The start of this session was in the Learning Centre where I  introduced students to the day and ran through both the scientific process and the collaborative learning process. I asked critical questions about what working in teams involves. 

• What do you need others to do when you're working together? 
• How do you feel when working in a group? 
• What are our expectations about working together? 

Students were excited that they were about to become CSI Agents. They were excited to put on lab coats and CSI agent badges

The Wildlife CSI activity worked well, most groups were working together to capture evidence and using the identification booklets. A quick demonstration of how to 'capture' evidence the the tablets and off they went. Students were certainly engaged… Often student would come 'bounding' up to me to show me what they'd found. Here's the teachable moment, when we can ask inquiry based questions to develop their critical thinking skills and incorporate scientific language into their vocabulary. 

The evidence session was great – students were really engaged in looking at the evidence and using microscopes. I was working my way around the room and ensuring students were able to use the equipment. Again, they were visibly excited about looking at the evidence and adding content to their workbooks - This surprised me because I normally steer clear of workbooks because I want students to engage with whats around them - but in this circumstance it really added to the exploration of the content. 

Creating stories from the Evidence

In terms of collaboration and teamwork the last session was great. Students were actively investigating their evidence on their tablets and then using this to create their story on the template. I think the session worked really well and was able to reinforce the learning outcomes. Ideally we would provide an opportunity for all teams to share their story, but time was short so we only did 2.

All in all, a great first run of a session I've had in my head for many years, that I've never really had the time to put together properly... with a few more tweeks (and possibly the development of an App) I think it will be the way I'd originally pictured it and a really great experience for students to engage with the scientific method.

More details about the Wildlife CSI experience - Here