All of Fairport CSD’s fourth-grade students have the opportunity to become crime scene investigation agents with help from the Green Machine, an interactive mobile science laboratory. Using the lab’s state-of-the-art technology, students work together as an investigative team to solve a mystery.
Brooks Hill students recently worked on a scenario in which an unidentified, ficticious person was found unconscious and possibly infected. Students worked in smaller teams within five stations (CSI, Ecology, Geography, Zoology, and Medical) with each team contributing its finding to help identify the person, cause of infection and treatment.
“The Green Machine was fun,” said Brooks Hill fourth-grader Samantha Jerome in Becky Cafarelli’s class. “I loved getting to be a CSI agent and put on a special suit and find out what the mystery substance was.”
The Green Machine, a resource offered to school districts through Monroe One BOCES Technology Services, promotes problem solving and working collaboratively in both small and large groups. It draws on content knowledge in both science and social studies while applying math and language arts skills to solve a mystery. It is set up as a realistic scenario allowing students to work collectively to create a final hypothesis based on the facts in the whole group wrap-up.
The Green Machine visited Jefferson Avenue School earlier in the year and will visit Northside School mid-May.
“The Green Machine was fun and really interesting. I got to be a zoology agent and study hair samples,” Jake Tayler said. “I loved helping solve the case!”
Photos: Brooks Hill students
