NTN PROJECT PLANNING FORM

BEGIN WITH THE END BRAINSTORM

Subject/Course:
Topic/Theme:

Grade Level:

Project Based Forensics

Art Forgery

Semester:

Content Standards (Academic Rigor & Assessment)

12
Fall 2014

Project Context (Authenticity & Adult Connections)

What specific content standards, including Common Core and Big Ideas from the
Knowledge and Thinking rubrics, do I wish to teach and assess with this project?

What real-world problem, challenge, or scenario could students examine that would
create the need for students to learn the content? Student role? Audience?
Students will serve as forensic specialist to use scientific means to collect evidence that
can pinpoint a suspect with reasonable guilt in a theft case. With this, the audience will
be a judge (Mr. Watkins) that will grant both a search warrant and conviction during the
trial portion of the class.

1.) C1.1 Scientific Inquiry

2.) C1.2 Scientific Reflection and Social Implications
3.) C2.1c
4.) C2.4c
5.) C3.3B
6.) P4.p2B
7.) P4.p2D
8.) C4.3 Properties of Substances
9.) C4.3c
10.) C4.3i
11.) C4.4x Molecular Polarity

SWLOs and Skills (Applied Learning)

Information Sources (Authenticity & Active Exploration)

Which school-wide learning outcomes or content skills would I like to focus on with
this project? Broader college and career skills? Literacy skills?

1.) Agency
2.) Written communication
3.) Oral communication
4.) Knowledge and thinking
5.) Collaboration
6.) In-depth planning
7.) Cause and Effect Analysis
8.) Evaluation of sources
9.) Logical Reasoning

What specific primary and secondary sources do I want students to use for gathering
information? What primary sources like novels, diaries, experiments, interviews, video
footage, data sets, etc. do I want students to use?

1.) Officer Faull, Officer Viesel

2.) Art Teachers at BHS
3.) Security cameras at BHS
4.) Articles on counterfeiting and art heists
5.) YouTube videos for lab testing techniques and authenticating processes.
6.) Scientific journal articles, highlighting past testing techniques.
7.) Any local law enforcement/ data collected from student led labs.

10.) Evidence based persuasive writing and speaking

Enduring Understanding
Think big picture. What would I like students to

When students look back on this project, I want them to have an extensive knowledge as to how accurate scientific
Evidence can be the most powerful evidence from all other types.

Pause For A Reality Check!

In what way does the project allow for

multiple pathways to address the
problem or challenge?

What types of core subject knowledge,

including standards on state tests (if
applicable), will students learn to justify the
time spent doing the project?

What opportunities will students

have to engage with relevant,
important data and information
sources?

How is this project authentic, either because

students are placed in a scenario that mimics what
professionals/adults do or because students are
addressing a need or challenge in a particular
community?
New Tech Network 2012

NTN PROJECT PLANNING TOOLKIT

CULMINATING EVENT
Driving Question

What overarching question will guide student

learning throughout the project?

How can science be utilized as a critical tool to bring about belief

beyond a reasonable doubt for guilt in crime scenes?

Performance Product/s

Problem Statement

Use the prompts below to define the role of the

students, what they will do during the project, and
why they are doing it.

How can we as forensic scientists collect evidence to support or refute the claim
that art work is not authentic? And how can we use forensic science to pinpoint
evidence to a suspect in a crime involving theft?

What final products will require students to apply what they have learned? What will students be expected to produce and/or present
that will allow them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills?

Group: Lab assignment- Evidence collection techniques

Lab assignment- Ink Solvents
Lab assignment- Painting forensics lab
Lab assignment- Digi-Melt (paint types melting points)
Lab assignment- Foot print analysis
Lab assignment- Stride analysis
Lab assignment- Finger print analysis
Trial Preparation- PowerPoint Presentation, Trial case. (For Search Warrant to search staff persons room)
Individual:
Daily Log/ laboratory notebook.
Scientific paper (CRA)- building on evidence from tests for a conviction. ( Several Drafts)
Benchmark assignments for content
Test on application of learned forensic techniques
Weekly reflections on scientific thought process, I wonders, This makes me think based on new evidence found in the week.

Written Product (aka Literacy Task)

Communication Type
What type of communication
best suits the context and allows
students to demonstrate what
they have learned?

What authentic written product will fit naturally within the context of the project and provide an opportunity for
students to synthesize information and demonstrate their content knowledge?

X Argumentative
Defending a point of view, persuading an audience, supporting with evidence
Informational
Describing a process or event, analyzing an event or text, examining a topic
Narrative
Telling a story, developing either real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques and clear event sequences

Prompt
Use the driving question,
communication type, and
sources from the Brainstorm
page to develop a prompt for
your written product. See NTN
Literacy Task Quick Reference.

How can science be utilized as a critical tool to bring about belief beyond a reasonable doubt for
guilt in crime scenes? After researching/reading/viewing evidence from our crime scene analysis,
write a 4-6 page argumentative report that identifies a suspect for the art heist crime. Support your
position with a logical flow of evidence that has been collected from this project, capitalizing on the
results from your lab testing and data collection in this project.
Pause For A Reality Check!

To what extent do the products represent

something significant and meaningful beyond
my classroom?

How will the written product/literacy task

require students to review data and info and
synthesize knowledge from their sources?

To what extent will students see the

connection between the written product/
literacy task and performance products?

When assessing these products, what will I look

for in student work as evidence of content
mastery?
New Tech Network 2012

NTN PROJECT PLANNING TOOLKIT

IDENTIFYING TARGETED SKILLS

You cant scaffold and assess every skill in every project, so its important to identify a set of skills you would like to target for this project. Considering the final products you
developed earlier, use the NTN Idea Bank to determine skills you would like to focus on.

Targeted Content
If my standards are the broad
goals, what specific subset of skills
does this project focus on? Key
facts?

Targeted Research Skills

What skills will I target to help
students gather information? (I.e.
note-taking, interviewing, finding
and evaluating sources,
documenting, etc.)

1.) Inquiry Laboratory skills

2.) Technical writing in the discipline
3.) Evaluation of Data
4.) In-Depth scientific method and experimental design

1.) Evaluation sources

2.) Note-taking with experts and workshops
3.) Documenting findings
4.) Annotation techniques

Targeted Literacy Skills

Key Academic
Vocabulary

Chemicals, stride, velocity, distance, DNA, Digimelt,

fingerprinting, foot casting, solvent, crime scene, (Im
sure many more will come up in the kits)

Targeted School-Wide Learning Outcome Skills

Agency

Grow from Set Backs

Emerging

Identifies challenges, failures, or setbacks, but does

not describe reactions to them (i.e. giving up or trying harder)
Developing

Identifies challenges, failures, or setbacks and

describes reactions to them (i.e. giving up or trying harder)

Proficient

Identifies challenges, failures, or

setbacks and reflects on how reactions to them (i.e. giving up,
trying harder) affect process, product, or learning
Advanced

Reading
Comprehension
and Research
Skills (note-taking,

Finding sources

Written
Communication

Planning experiments, Pre-writing for the CRA,

revisions of CRAs, and team editing.

Oral
Communication

Reflects on personal or academic

growth from challenges, failures, or setbacks as well as why
and how reactions (i.e. giving up or trying harder) affect the
product, process, and learning
Entire Rubric for CRA

finding sources, etc.)

Planning, PreWriting, and

Revision Skills
(pre-writing, drafting,
editing, etc.)

Evidence
Emerging

Draws on facts, experience, or research in a minimal

way

Demonstrates limited understanding of the topic

Developing

Draws on facts, experience, and/or

research inconsistently

Demonstrates an incomplete or uneven

understanding of the topic
Proficient

Draws on facts, experiences and research to support

a perspective

Demonstrates an understanding of the topic

Advanced

Facts, experience and research are

synthesized to support a perspective

Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the topic

Writing/Other
Skills

1.) How to use evidence to support an argument.

2.) Technical writing
3.) Ability to be clear and concise in writing.

Collaboration

Commitment to a shared success

Emerging

Provides no positive feedback or unhelpful negative

feedback
Developing

Provides intermittent constructive feedback to team

members
Proficient

Provides positive and constructive feedback to team

Members.
Advanced

Actively encourages and motivates others to attain

high levels of achievement

Provides helpful feedback to team on progress

Pause For A Reality Check!

How have I prioritized the most
important skills?

What prior knowledge do students have

to assist them with developing these
skills?

Will the assessment of these skills be individual or

group? Both? What about the scaffolding of these
skills- will that be individual, group, or both?

Have I built in sufficient time to

scaffold these skills properly?

New Tech Network 2012

NTN PROJECT PLANNING TOOLKIT

PROJECT PLAN AND BENCHMARKS

Project Launch
Project Name

Art Heist

Entry Event
How might I introduce the
project to my students in a
way that produces
engagement, urgency for the
work, and need-to-knows for
the targeted skills?

Culture Building
How will I build culture in my
classroom and within groups
throughout the project?

To begin the day, students will be given an entry doc that students will break down to come up with knows
and need to knows. Once this is complete, students will be shown the crime scene next door that will serve
as the main crime scene for the project. Students will then be asked to get into groups and come up with
next steps as to how to deal with a crime scene.
Students will make group contracts and participate in a get to know each other team builder to help bridge the
differences between students of different grades in the class.

Project Plan
Targeted Skills

Anticipated Need-to-Knows

Lessons/Scaffolding Activities

Which skills will be targeted in this phase of

the project?

What need-to-knows do I expect/ anticipate

students will have after the Entry Event?

What research, activities, workshops, or discussions might

help students prepare for the Key Benchmarks?

Early Phase

What really is evidence?

What are the steps of an
investigation?
How can we all work together and
figure out what to do?
How do we handle a crime scene?
If we find other tests online, can we
use them?

Planning
Evaluation of sources
Experimental Design
Note-taking
Cause and effect thinking
Annotation of lab notebook

Key Benchmarks
What subtasks will students complete
as they progress toward the final
products?

Reflection
What journals, discussions, or
activities might help students reflect on
their progress mid-project?

Workshops:
Crime Scene 101
Officer Faull- stages of an
investigation
How to plan experiments
How to handle evidence
Documentation- How to?
What is meaningful evidence?

1.) How to handle a crime scene

2.) What is evidence
3.) How to maintain a sound investigation
4.) Case Planning
5.) Cause and effect thinking
Ongoing lab notebook with comments will be kept to build evidence to convict
someone.
New Tech Network 2012

Project Plan Continued

Middle Phase(s)

Extension/ Twist * At the time after all evidence has been collected, half of the class will be designated for
assignment as being a defense witness for whichever staff member gets charges brought about
them. ( Possible honors credit given for defense side)
Targeted Skills
Anticipated Need-to-Knows
Lessons/Scaffolding Activities
1.) Inquiry Lab techniques
2.) Evidence collection
3.) Experimental Design
4.) What does it take to get a search
warrant?
5.) Organization of data/ evidence
6.) How to split time on tasks.

How do we handle evidence?

Can we alter evidence- rip etc.
How do we do fingerprinting?
What is a digi melt?
How do we match a footprint?
How do we analyze hand writing?
Do different papers have an effect on
ink?

Workshops for each test type found

below in the benchmarks
Workshop- Officer Faull, Officer
Visel for fingerprinting
Workshop- Digimelt techniques

Late Phase

Key Benchmarks

1.) Testing of the art pictures- test for lead based paint, brush stroke, authenticating
2.) Testing of Finger prints- Analysis of prints- Glove left over, hair in glove
3.) Testing of planned footprint outside in mud- Track evaluation casting of footprints- mud
matching
4.) Ransom note collection
5.) Hand Writing Analysis- evaluation of note
6.) Ink solvent analysis
7.) Digi Melt- melting point of brushed paint on fake vs real paintings
8.) video footage- timing of suspect walking- stride analysis time lapse

Reflection

Lab notebook with comments section

Extension/ Twist *

none

Technical writing in the discipline

Oral communication- being concise
and to the point
Continued lab notebook annotations

Key Benchmarks
Reflection

What is the CRA?

How long does the PowerPoint and
case have to be?
Is there a jury?
Will we have an actual trial?
How do we put together a case?
Is there a correct order to put the
evidence in?

Workshops:
CRA- several especially with data,
drafts, and ordering a paper
PowerPoints for evidence selection
Trial basics
How to win a case.

1.) How to organize evidence

2.)
of evidence
As Ordering
a final reflection,
students will write a reflection piece that will relate the evidence heavy
themed project,
to project
something
other
than get
a science
class
to scenario
relate skills
learned
in the
*Optional
feature where
students
new information
or atrying
twist in the
that pushes
them deeper
into the content
Pause For A Reality Check!

How does each of the benchmarks demonstrate

student progress toward the final products?

What breadcrumbs, extensions, and/or twists must I include in the

entry event and afterwards to evoke student need-to-knows?

To what extent have I maximized student-centric

activities?
New Tech Network 2012