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| Vol. 22, No. 3 |
| February 15, 2000 |
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Students Make Lobe Connections to Solve Mystery at the Museum By DEBBIE MAURER Museum of Health & Medical Science
Discussing the anatomy of the brain may be dull and tedious in some science classrooms, but at the Museum of Health & Medical Science learning about this amazing organ leads to drama, passion and intrigue. A new 90-minute brain class created especially for high school students was added to the Museum's school field trip program last fall. Called "The Lobe Connection," this hands-on workshop is proving to be a popular "mind-expanding" experience for both students and their teachers. "The kids have a blast in this workshop, but when the parents and teachers got into it as much as their students, we knew we had a winner," notes Jennifer Peters Brawley, manager of youth and educator programs at the Museum. During the classroom component of the workshop, students discuss the different areas and lobes of the brain, examine actual specimens, and then participate in related activities that illustrate more concretely how each unique area of the brain functions. Differences between the left versus right brain and the biological differences between how men and women think also are explored. During the last 45 minutes of the workshop, students are involved in a murder mystery where they must not only try to solve the crime, but also determine the motive for the murder and discern what part of the brain was used to decipher the information. "We give each team of five students a tub containing all of the information they need to figure out who committed the murder and why," explains Brawley. "They have the facts of the case, physical evidence, witness statement sheets, evidence sheets from the suspects - everything they need to determine `who dunnit?' There is a correct answer for the mystery, but we're more interested in seeing how each group organizes their evidence." In addition to listening to witness statements, comparing handwriting samples, and smelling cologne samples from each suspect, students use chromatography techniques to compare ink samples and also compare fingerprints. And as in any good murder mystery, all of the suspects had a reason to be mad at the victim and no one suspect has any overwhelming evidence against them. "Some of the scenarios the students come up with are outrageous, but it's not really important if they correctly identify the killer," says Brawley. "What we want them to get out of this experience is what part of their brain they used to reach each conclusion." Another goal of this workshop is to get 9th through 12th graders excited about science in a nontraditional format; success is measured by how talkative the students are during this assignment. "This is my favorite class - it's the kind of curriculum I like to write because it's open-ended and non-sterile," adds Brawley, who is developing another murder mystery for a forensics class to be offered in 2001. "Our `Lobe Connection' workshop is fun because it's "minds-on" and hands-on learning; the kids argue about their theories and really get into it." Linda Hamling, a teacher of health science technology at Westfield High School in the Spring Independent School District, concurs. She brought her mental health class to the Museum because the workshop offered her students an ideal opportunity to see the sections of the brain they had been studying in class. "This workshop was fantastic for my kids because there are lots of hands-on exercises that forced them to make their own decisions and work as a team," stresses Hamling. "Students who never participate in class were adding to the discussion and some of these kids were talking to each other for the first time all year. Working with the Museum was a great opportunity for me to teach anatomy and to reinforce the concepts that I'd been teaching about brain function and behavior. We have a few things in our classroom, but I could never show my students a real brain - no way! On this day, however, none of the juniors and seniors in Mrs. Hamling's health class solved the murder mystery correctly, but it sure wasn't for lack of trying. "I love teaching this workshop and seeing their creativity in motion," stresses Dustie Parnell, museum educator, who has heard every possible motive theorized, including alien abduction. "This class is fun to teach because it involves abstract thinking, problem solving and actual learning, which is the way the brain works. You have to be able to apply whatever basic knowledge you are given or else it is meaningless. This murder mystery is the perfect scenario for `Here's the information about the brain, now apply it to your life,' which is a much better way to teach." There are two other 90-minute workshops geared toward the high school level: A Splice of Life (genetics) and Take it to Heart (sheep heart dissections). Two 50-minute classes on the Gene Pool and Alien Invasion (covering the immune system) also are available. For more information on field trip programs designed to assist teachers in achieving national and state objectives in science and health education, call the education department at 713-942-7054,ext. 121.
©2006 Texas Medical Center E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/02_15_00/page_06.html |
