First-year students in 抖阴视频鈥檚 True Crime Casebook: Secrets, Stories and Suspects and Let鈥檚 Crack Open a Cold Case courses, part of the Archway Seminar Series, put their investigative skills to the test during the "Missing Mascot" crime case/scavenger hunt designed by Matt Flores, assistant professor of education, and Amber Johnson, assistant professor of psychology.
Students had one hour to work in teams, interview faculty members serving as suspects, and gather clues to determine what happened to the missing P-Wolf mascot.
鈥淲e designed the scavenger hunt to allow students to use their deductive reasoning skills in a real-world context while also giving them the opportunity to explore campus and meet faculty members,鈥 Johnson said.
The activity reinforced several of the courses鈥 learning goals.
鈥淎 main goal was for students to learn how to collaborate effectively with others while completing a task and building critical thinking skills,鈥 Flores said.
The activity emphasized key methods of critical inquiry: how to frame questions, collect and interpret data, and draw well-supported conclusions.
鈥淥ne of the skills they took away was asking the right questions 鈥 for example, looking for motives, means and opportunities,鈥 Flores said.
Students said they felt like they were solving a real case while exploring campus.
鈥淚 was surprised by how creative they were in forming theories and analyzing the suspects. The activity inspired a lot of collaboration and energy in our students. They even asked if they could spend more time investigating outside of class,鈥 Johnson said.
Flores said he was impressed by how well the students did with cracking the case.
鈥淭here were clues they didn鈥檛 notice, but in the end, they were still able to solve the case,鈥 he said.
Faculty who participated appreciated how original the activity was, noting that it energized students and provided an interactive way to apply their skills.
鈥淭he faculty suspects were also excited to hear who the culprit was,鈥 Johnson said.