Solve a mystery online with another school

This Internet Classroom Project is about sharing information in order to solve the crime. Each registered school acts out a role; either as working for a detective agency or for a private investigator. Each class receives their own set of clues. Your clues will tell you about the suspects, and about the crime scene. To help you organise your clues, make a grid of what you know. Your investigation continues by emailing your partner school to ask specific questions about what they found out (rather, what their clues have told them).

The project is designed for grade 6 (Yr 7 NZ) students and up. Plan for 4 weeks of investigating.....

The second set of clues deals with suspect interviews. Detectives and investigators will learn about what the suspects told the police in their interview. There are 4 suspects., therefore there are 4 statements made to the police. Each detective/ PI will be given 2 of the statements. For them to find out about the other statements, the detectives/ PI will have to ask each other via email. With these clues, you'll be able to understand your suspects better. In order for each detective/ PI to have a chance of cracking this crime, each crime solver will ask one question per round, or per email to the other school.

You will also read a newspaper article that relates to the crime. This might give you more clues.

Once all the clues are shared, you will then share your thoughts about this crime with the other crime solvers. Write a report on your findings as a newspaper report or a police report... two of the possible ways of giving your answer.

Come and take a look at our first crime: The Case of the Missing Boat

The Avon Bump Boat Race in Christchurch, New Zealand is about to start their 4 day competition. The teams have flown in from many parts of the world to take part in this ever-popular boat race. However, one of the prize rowing boat has gone missing.... Was it destroyed? Was it stolen? Who would have benefited from the boat's disappearance? How could a boat this size vanish? Were there any witnesses? What have the police found out? Why would anyone want to become involve in this crime?

These are some of the questions that need answering for you to solve this crime. Will you join our detectives and private investigators in finding the answers to this mystery? The police have started their investigation, and now have 4 suspects. Because of the importance of this investigation, detectives and investigators have been hired to find out as much as they can....independently from the police. All information is to be shared.

If this is the sort of project you would like to do with your class, then continue reading.

The first thing to do is to register your class, and find a school to investigate with.
Second thing is to look at the proposed schedule and find out when and what to do with your classroom.
Third thing to do is plan your lessons around mysteries. Check out my lesson plan page to give you ideas.If you need more ideas, I have searched the Internet for you, and have tons of links for you to visit. Check the list.
After you have an idea of what happened in this mystery, then your class can write a newspaper report, or write the answer in poetry form. Email the crumbmaster, and I'll put it here.

Finally, I would be most grateful if you can fill in my evaluation page to give me ideas on how it went, and what needs improving.

If you have any questions at any time, please fill free to email me. I'm a friendly Lieutenant !

Who is the Crumbmaster? Do you need to contact me for project information?
Suggestion for links? Recommendation of sites?

Email me at natalie@instructor.net