Story and Photos by Betsy Branca ’31
For the past week, students in Law and Order: Who Killed Pikachu, taught by Mrs. Bouchard, MS Science Teacher, and Mrs. Jones, MS Math Teacher, have learned how to investigate and solve crimes and mysteries. The students also get to experience what it would be like to be a detective or an investigator. There are many labs and hands-on activities that the students get to participate in. All of the students get to learn about things such as the importance of blood at a crime scene, chemical and physical reactions, and how to tell the difference between different pieces of evidence.
When asked about what goals she has for the class, Mrs. Bouchard answered, “The goal is for the students to know more about the science used in solving crimes.” Mrs. Bouchard and Mrs. Jones set up stations where students can test and examine “blood.” (The blood is actually ketchup!) The students got to squirt blood from up high and down low and from straight up. Others worked on a worksheet that asked them about details of blood splatter. They had to drop blood from different heights and then measure the diameter of the blood. They also examined high and low volume of bloodstains and arterial blood spray. Finally they studied angles of blood splatter to determine where the blood came from.
The students of Law and Order: Who Killed Pikachu also got to experiment with chemical and physical reactions. First, the students predicted what would happen when Mrs. Bouchard put a liquid in the white powder such as powdered sugar or flour. Then, the students did the same with different white powders. Zander Bean ’30 is taking the class Law and Order: Who Killed Pikachu “because me and my mom like to solve murder mysteries.” The students got to mix liquids into their white powders to see the reaction.
Students are also testing lipsticks at a crime scene. They learned about how to test things for density, they learned how to identify glass, they learned about characteristics of fingerprints, they also learned how to test cloth, and finally, they will write a cause statement.
All of the students in Law and Order: Who Killed Pikachu have learned many things as the mystery unfolded.
