Halloween in the Biology Classroom: Exploring the Tylenol Tampering Case of 1982

Today, my forensics class put the Grinch on trial!

After 4 days of research, the defense and prosecution came head to head in the courtroom in an attempt to persuade the jury of Mr. Grinch’s guilt or innocence.

It was a week of fun, mixed with lots of learning!

I was so impressed by this group of students.

I have been saving all of this week’s “behind the scenes” in my highlights (Seasonal 2). Be sure to check it out!

#forensics #forensicscience #forensicsclass #iteachforensics #scienceteacher #scienceclub

I’ve got 15 days of festive forensics activities to cover the next three weeks and I’m so excited!

I love celebrating the holidays in my classroom and teaching forensics lends itself to some pretty awesome holiday activities.

To kick off the Christmas season, we decorated FORENSICS-THEMED UGLY SWEATERS today.

I think they turned out great! 🤩

If you haven’t played STINKY FEET as a classroom review game, consider this your sign! It’s so much fun 🤩

⭐️Students play in teams of 3-4.

⭐️ I provided each team with a white board, dry erase marker, and eraser.

⭐️ I displayed review questions on the board and teams answered the question on their whiteboard. Teams that answered correctly got to come to the board to select a “sock.”

⭐️Behind each sock was a fun surprise. Some socks yielded positive points, some yielded negative points, and some displayed some fun surprises that had my students on the edge of their seats.

This is seriously one of the best review games ever!

I have created a plug and play template so that you can play this game in your own classroom without spending hours creating a game from scratch.

To grab my STINKY FEET REVIEW GAME TEMPLATE, head to www.thetrendyscienceteacher.com/stinkyfeet

Today, I got my Forensics tree up in my classroom and it brought me instantaneous JOY!

The ornaments for this tree are from our glue fuming lab that we did a couple of weeks back. This lab is so easy and would make a great holiday activity for your forensics students.

For the details on how to make these ornaments via glue-fuming, head over to my blog👇🏼
www.thetrendyscienceteacher.com/glue

We’ve begun our genetics unit! 🧬

To introduce DNA, I had my students extract DNA from a strawberry 🍓

Some of the students opted to keep their DNA by making DNA necklaces.

This lab is included in my genetics unit, but you can also find other versions with a quick Google search. It’s a great lab to introduce genetics!

Today, my forensics class put their fingerprinting skills to work to solve THE CASE OF THE TEACHERS LOUNGE THIEF.

Storyline: One of the students in my forensics class has been sneaking into the teacher’s lounge and stealing my Dr. Pepper.

Task: Use the skills taught in class to dust and lift fingerprints from the stolen Dr. Pepper. Compare the lifted prints to our class “database” to determine the thief.

This activity is always so much fun! The entire class works together to solve the crime.

You can find this activity at www.thetrendyscienceteacher.com/thief

One of my favorite bio labs is the BARF BAG LAB 🤮

In this lab, my bio students observed the carbon dioxide production in cereals with different sugar content. This lab was a great way to showcase the products of alcoholic fermentation.

If you want to grab this free lab to use in your own classroom, head over to my blog:

www.thetrendyscienceteacher.com/barfbag

My 🎃 Halloween Day Lesson Plan for Biology includes a case study about the cyanide-laced Tylenol murders of 1982.

It’s the perfect activity to wrap up cellular respiration (since cyanide affects the mitochondria).

To get all the details and links for this activity, head over to www.thetrendyscienceteacher.com/october

Today, I printed all of my materials for my UNSOLVED MYSTERIES forensics activity that I will be doing on Halloween day with my students.

This activity is always a lot of fun for my students and I can’t wait to host this SPOOK-tacular event.

I have all of the details over on my blog. Just head to www.thetrendyscienceteacher.com/mysteries

Today, my bio students took their 2nd benchmark exam for the school year.

These benchmarks are part of a progress monitoring system that is my secret sauce for student growth and success.

Students take their tests via Google Forms, then graph and analyze their data.

The students are responsible for keeping up with their data throughout the school year on their progress monitoring packet that we store in a folder in the back of the classroom.

I also collect class data and post it for all of my classes to see. I use the data to decide if I need to remediate or just keep moving forward.

Since today’s data shows that more than 90% of my students are mastering the content so far, I’m just gonna keep trucking along.

Are you using data to drive instruction? If not, what are you waiting for?

Progress monitoring has been a game changer for my students and I can’t recommend it enough!

My forensics class just completed our first unit (investigative processes). To assess my students’ knowledge of crime scene investigation, I hosted our first mock crime scene. Of the school year.

This week, students will take part in a school-wide criminal investigation to determine WHO KILLED IMA MINOR?

Today, they processed the crime scene. Tomorrow will be all about analyzing the evidence, and the rest of the week will be spent questioning witnesses and building a case.

This is one of my favorite activities of the year! 🤩

Want to host a mock crime scene in your own classroom? Head over to my blog to learn how:
www.thetrendyscienceteacher.com/mockcrimescene

#forensics #forensicscience #scienceteacher #forensicsteacher

An activity that my students won’t soon forget!

This cell organelles riddle scavenger hunt had my bio classes scurrying around the school today solving riddles and showcasing their knowledge of cell organelles. 🏃 🏃🏼‍♀️

It was so much fun!

If you want to grab it for your own students, head to www.thetrendyscienceteacher.com/riddles

Oh…. By the way…. It’s 1/2 off for the next 24 hours! 😊

It was WATERS & WEBQUESTS for my forensics kiddos today! 💦

#makingworksheetsfunagain

Another lab day in the books 📚

Today, we started discussing properties of the cell membrane. The best way to introduce this topic is with the CELL MEMBRANE BUBBLE LAB 🫧

I have a blog post that explains how I make the solution for this lab, how I set it up, and where you can download a free lab sheet.

Head over to www.thetrendyscienceteacher.com/bubbles for all the deets! 📝

The doctor is in! 🏥

Today, I assessed my bio students on their knowledge of cell function with this activity called CELL CLINIC.

I set up “exam rooms” of patients with various symptoms and ailments. 🩹

Students had to study the symptoms and lab work to determine which cell organelles were malfunctioning. They had to read, collaborate, and discuss to provide a diagnosis for each patient. 📝

Our local hospital donated these gowns and masks 😷 (which provided us with some fun role play).

Check out this activity at
www.thetrendyscienceteacher.com/clinic