Adventures in After School Learning Blog

-By Mike DeBritz on Monday, May 14, 2012

The new version of the "Cookie Jar Mystery" for classroom is ready to order!

Here's a visual tour and introduction to each Module:

Module 1: Introduction - The Crime Scenario
Read how your students are introduced to the crime here!

Module 2: Always Leave a Note - Handwriting and Ink Analysis
The story continues here!

 

Module 3: Without a Trace - Examining Hair and Fiber Evidence
Now things are getting interesting...see why here!

Module 4: First Impressions - Fingerprints and Shoeprints
Students are now deep in analysis of the crime scene, read on here!

Module 5: One of a Kind - Blood Typing and DNA
Wow, the investigation is really heating up..follow along here!

Module 6: Law and Order - Conclusion and Mock Trial
It's time to conclude this who-dunnit and move to trial, here!

-By Mike DeBritz on Monday, May 07, 2012

Here's a quick video on how to break the cookie jar for the classroom version of the "Cookie Jar Mystery."  

In module 1, "The Crime Scenario" you'll start off by mocking up the crime scene to recreate the heinous crime that happened in Mrs. Johnson's classroom!   

-By Mike DeBritz on Monday, April 23, 2012

If you need to reach out and involve more High School (or mature Middle School) students this summer, we have a great opportunity! 

Our Screenwriting for Short Video: An Introduction for Teens kit has everything you need to run an engaging mini course on this high interest topic!

This 10-unit program is designed to engage older students in a highly participatory and intriguing study of movie-making. Kids know when they like a film...after taking this class they'll understand why!

Our approach to the weekly activities is to first introduce students to concepts of screenwriting like the three-act structure, creating characters and writing dialogue.

Then students will look at award-winning teen-produced movies as examples. This drives each concept home but also helps students visualize themselves sitting in the director's chair.

Next students participate in a critique, and move to working on applying these concepts to their own short video scripts.

In ten fun-filled weeks, students will walk away with a working knowledge of video storytelling and complete a script with a meaningful theme, characters and scenes ready to shoot!

We've worked hard to make this kit affordable and easy to maintain for future use. The complete package, which includes materials for a class of 20 students, is only $695!

To learn more about this program and review the detailed program outline, click here.  Or if you're inspired, click here to order!

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Have you heard this term being flung about lately?

At first it may sound risky, maybe exciting or just downright dangerous …someone could get hurt with this kind of venture, whatever it means!

In all seriousness, the term describes a new educational model that’s taking shape due to the advances in internet video and the improved capacity of educational networks.

In general, the flipped classroom means that students use traditional homework time to watch video lessons and teachers reserve class time for interacting and guiding students where they encounter difficulties. With less time spent on preparing and delivering lectures, teachers are freed up for one-on-one tutoring that helps everyone in the class succeed. 

This is particularly of interest in math classrooms where students often become frustrated and disillusioned early in their academic careers. The practice could lead to sweeping changes in our current instructional model and fulfillment on the promises of leaving no child behind. 

By the way, this model looks particularly attractive to after school centers offering tutoring.

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Now the investigation turns to the most unique evidence on the case...DNA.

Mrs. Johnson was late to class; all of her science students were already seated at their desks as she dumped her books and took off her long raincoat.

           “Sorry, everyone,” she began. “Take out your notes and let’s get right back into our crime scene investigation!”

            For several days, Mrs. Johnson’s students had been conducting experiments trying to determine who had broken their teacher’s cookie jar. Papers were shuffled and chairs scraped noisily along the floor as the students readied themselves. Mrs. Johnson took a quick glance around the room as she opened her attendance book.

            “Hey, Mrs. Johnson. What happened to your arm?”

            Mrs. Johnson was touched, but she kindly brushed off Jack’s concern. “Oh this?” she began, indicating the bandage in the crook of her right arm. “I was late because I was giving blood down at the firehouse.”

            “Ooooh, does it hurt to give blood?” asked Ashley anxiously.

            “There’s a little pinch when they put the needle in your arm, but giving blood is very important. It doesn’t take long. My blood type is AB+, and it’s a relatively rare type, so I am happy to be a blood donor. When you kids get older, I hope you’ll consider being blood donors, too!”

            “You know, Mrs. J, one of our suspects was sort of a ‘blood donor’--he (or she) must have cut himself on the cookie jar when it was broken. We collected a blood sample at the crime scene.”

            “Very good, Jack. That’s right.”

            “Well, if we test the blood and can figure out the type, maybe we can match it to one of our suspects,” said George.

            “That’s true,” replied Mrs. Johnson. “Luckily, I DO know the blood type of each of our suspects. Today, we’re going to ‘type’ our crime scene blood sample.”

            Emily spoke up quickly. She couldn’t keep the puzzled look off her face. “But if our suspects have the same blood type, that won’t help us figure out who the criminal is.”

            “Well, let’s consider the blood typing as a good place to start,” said Mrs. Johnson. “If we aren’t able to match the type to just one suspect, we’ll have to go one step further.”

            “But what else could we do?” asked Emily with exasperation. “I’m not sure we’re ever going to solve this case!”

            Mrs. Johnson lifted an amused eyebrow and looked out at her students. She was proud of the work they had done so far, but she knew they were capable of even more. “Today, we’re going to push our limits as forensic scientists,” she announced. “Has anyone here ever heard of DNA?”

Continue to the conclusion of this mystery in Law and Order here!

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

The investigation is really getting interesting...

            Mark Mulvaney had been late to school again. Mr. Moriarty, the Principal of Crooked Creek Middle School knew Mark as a good student, but he also knew he couldn’t tolerate Mark’s persistent tardiness. As discipline, Mr. Moriarty assigned Mark to clean the windows in Mrs. Johnson’s science lab.

            Mark squirted and wiped with the cleaning solution, and was nearly finished when the students filed in for Mrs. Johnson’s next class.

            “Late again, Mark?” teased Ashley, his lab partner.

            Mark drew his finger down a pane of glass until it squeaked. Good enough. He tossed his roll of paper towels into his bucket, and headed for his seat. He was eager for the next installment of the class’s ongoing investigation into The Cookie Jar Mystery.

            Mrs. Johnson waited patiently for her students to take their seats and open their notebooks. “Good morning, everyone,” she began. “Is everyone ready to continue their detective work?”

            Many students had already made progress understanding how their science experiments could help to identify the “criminal” who had sneaked into Mrs. Johnson’s classroom and, in the process of snatching some her delicious cookies, had knocked the jar off her desk and broken it. Mrs. Johnson had discovered the mess and immediately set her students on the task of identifying the perpetrator.

            “Mrs. Johnson!” Ashley had her hand in the air. “I have a question about evidence.”

            “Go ahead, Ashley.”

            “Well, here’s what I’ve been thinking: the last time we met in class, we tried to match a fiber found at the crime scene to some fiber that belong to our suspects. But all of our suspects have been to your cookie jar many times. We have no way of knowing when the fiber was left.”

            Mrs. Johnson nodded. “That is one of the weaknesses of ‘class’ evidence. Even though we can match a sweater fiber at the crime scene to your sweater, Ashley, for example, that’s not ‘conclusive’ evidence. Lots of young women wear that sweater. In fact, I can think of three or four other girls who have a sweater like yours.”

            Mark rolled his eyes a little. He thought for a moment about how he might leave fibers from his blue jeans on his chair. But then again, lots of boys sat in his chair throughout the course of a day. Wouldn’t they all leave fibers behind? What they really needed was some kind of evidence that was unique to each person.

            Mrs. Johnson continued. She talked about class evidence, trace evidence, and evidence collection. And she acknowledged that finding evidence that pointed to just one person was sometimes very difficult.

            Mark sighed to himself; How were he and his classmates going to solve the mystery? He turned to the sparkling windows and looked outside. They had been dirty, marked up with streaks and fingerprints. Then it suddenly occurred to him: Fingerprints! Hadn’t he read somewhere that no two people had the same fingerprints? Maybe that would be the evidence they needed.

            He raised his hand. “Mrs. Johnson? I think I might have a new direction for our investigation…”

 Continue the story in the next module, One of a Kind, here!

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The story continues as your junior CSI's delve deeper into the evidence found at the classroom crime scene. 

As usual, the fascinating Mrs. Johnson, a science teacher at Crooked Creek Middle, began her lesson with a story. Because the students had been trying to solve the mystery of who had broken Mrs. Johnson’s cookie jar, they knew her story would be another step toward understanding crime-solving techniques. All of the students leaned forward in their seats and gave Mrs. Johnson their full attention.

            “In 1888, all of Europe was gripped by the grisly murders committed by a mysterious man named Jack the Ripper. Investigators from Scotland Yard (the headquarters of British detectives) did their best to apprehend the criminal, but the terrible killer was never identified.

            At the turn of the century, the interest in solving crimes continued, and the flames of this interest were fanned by the ever increasing popularity of a series of stories about Sherlock Holmes, a fictional detective who used his keen powers of observation to solve mysteries.

            But all investigative techniques were quite simple until about 1910, when a Frenchman named Edmond Locard approached the Lyons, France, police department and set up one of the world’s first forensic laboratories. Locard had an important theory.”

            Mrs. Johnson stopped for a moment and called on George, who had raised his hand.

            “We’re going to talk about Locard’s Principle, aren’t we, Mrs. Johnson.” It was more of a statement than a question.

            Mrs. Johnson was impressed. “You seem to have done your homework, George.”

            George flushed with genuine embarrassment, but he continued, “I guess you could say I’ve been investigating!”

            “What can you tell us about Monsieur Locard, George?”

            “Well, let me demonstrate.” George stood up, and as he did so, he nudged Jennifer, who was seated in front of him, and indicated that Jennifer should stand up. She did. “Locard believed that people who are in contact with each other—even casually—“(and here George shook hands with Jennifer quickly) “exchange something, some kind of evidence. It’s usually something we don’t even see, like skin cells, fibers, hair, or even germs. If I just brush past Jennifer, I might pick up some fibers from her sweater.”

            “And I might exchange some hairs from you!” said Jennifer to George. She sat back down in her seat, and so did George.

            “Exactement! Exactly!” laughed Mrs. Johnson. “Excuse my French!”

            “So that’s Locard’s Principle, Mrs. J.?” asked Mark. “What does that have to do with our mystery? I don’t think two people were involved in breaking your cookie jar!”

            “Maybe not, Mark. But Locard’s Principle isn’t only about people running into each other, it’s also about the contact between people and things.”       

            “So, you mean, whoever broke the cookie jar must have left something behind?” asked Jennifer.

            “Some evidence was collected,” Mrs. Johnson continued. “I put it in an envelope marked ‘crime scene fiber.’ Let’s try an experiment and see what we can learn from applying Locard’s Principle!”

Continue the story in the next module, First Impressions, here!

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, February 08, 2012

The new version of the Cookie Jar Mystery targeted for smaller centers and in-school science programs will have a couple new features.  The biggest of which is engaging kids with a story throughout each module. This is designed to peak students' curiosity and build suspense as each activity moves them on step closer to solving the mystery.  

 Below is the part one of the story that kicks off  The Crime Scenario:        

            It was just after 9 a.m. when Mrs. Johnson, a popular science teacher at Crooked Creek Middle School, made her way to her 9:15 science class. She’d spent her first period of the day in the teachers’ lounge, correcting papers and drinking coffee.

            Outside the classroom door, she looked briefly at her watch, and shifted her clumsy armload of student folders and papers.  “The students will be here in ten minutes,” she muttered as she nudged at the partially open door. Strange, she thought to herself, the classroom door is usually closed. She located the light switch and flipped it on.

            “Oh-oh!” began the teacher. “This does not look good!”

            The broken glass scattered in front of her desk surprised Mrs. Johnson. Not only was the glass dangerous, she wondered immediately if anyone had been hurt. She set her pile of books down on a nearby student desk and approached the mess on the floor, careful not to touch anything. 

            Sadly, Mrs. Johnson recognized the broken glass as fragments from her famous cookie jar that was normally kept locked up in the storage cabinet. Scattered among the broken glass, Mrs. Johnson could see remnants of the two dozen chocolate chip cookies she’d brought in the day before. There were only a few cookies left; clearly someone (or something!) had been interrupted in the act of stealing the cookies, and had broken the cookie jar in the process.

            Who could have done such a thing?

            The school bell signaled that her next class was about to start. Within a minute, several students entered the science classroom. Immediately, they began to talk about the disarray. As they moved towards Mrs. Johnson’s desk, she cautioned them sternly: “Let’s not disturb anything here. Please, be careful!”

            “Mrs. Johnson, what happened? Did you knock your cookie jar off the desk?” asked Jack, one her brightest students.

            “No, I didn’t. But I can see why you might think so!” answered the teacher.

            Ashley, another student, let her backpack slip to the floor.  “Are you going to call the police?”           

            “She doesn’t just need the police,” interrupted Mark, a tall 8^th-grader with a keen sense of humor. “Mrs. Johnson needs a detective!”

            An idea suddenly popped into Ms. Johnson’s head. “You’re right, Mark! I do need a detective! Luckily, I’ve got a whole classroom full! I don’t know what happened here, but I bet we can figure that out! Quickly, everyone, get your notebooks and pens—be careful not to disturb our little ‘crime scene’ here—and let’s get to work!”

            “What are we going to do, Mrs. Johnson?” asked Ashley.

            Mrs. Johnson smiled. “We…” she began slowly, with a twinkle in her eye, “are going to solve The Cookie Jar Mystery!”

You can solve The Cookie Jar Mystery too! Join your classmates in the activities in Module 1.  As you begin to understand the processes of forensic science, you’ll find new clues and evidence to point you in the direction of the guilty party. Proceed to Activity 1 to start your investigation!

Continue the story in the next module, Always Leave a Note, here!

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Community Learning and Educational Resource Consultants Join Forces for After School

(Scotia, NY and Fresno, CA) Community Learning, interactive curriculum developer of the popular hands-on CSI-themed series Cookie Jar Mystery, and Educational Resource Consultants, evaluation specialists and software developer of the After School Manager are joining forces to bring after school leaders a powerful package designed to fortify program sustainability and enhance student participation.

The After School Manager software goes far beyond maintaining accurate after school attendance for schools and community centers by also managing multiple funding streams that are an absolute necessity for after school programs today. The Cookie Jar Mystery course has proven to excite kids about science by creating an authentic crime scenario students solve together. The intriguing nature and relevance of forensic science has proven to captivate over 7500 students who have completed the curriculum.

“We’re finding in this economic environment that clients must keep an eye on future funding streams,” said Dr. Steve Price, Founder of Educational Resource Consultants. “The key factor in pursuing future funding today is demonstrating your track record of success,” Price added. The After School Manager system serves more than 34,000 students in over 25 districts currently.

“We’re excited to bring this essential solution to our customers,” said Michael DeBritz, President of Community Learning LLC. Community Learning has customers in over 40 states using their curriculum kits. “Over the years I’ve seen many after school programs that are absolutely great for kids, but are unable to maintain funding.” This becomes problematic for parents and communities that have relied on after school safe havens and unique support environments for tutoring and academic enrichment.

“After funding, the next greatest challenge for program directors is staff,” said DeBritz. “Our curriculum is designed to engage kids and be easy to teach,” he added. Community Learning’s approach has been to make the learning relevant, fun and interactive because nothing beats hands-on learning in after-school.

Similar to the school day, after school programs are funded by their average daily attendance. After school sites can lose attendance and money if leaders are not continually looking at new programming that engages and interests kids.

A great feature of the web-based After School Manager software system is the ability to track individual program offerings by participation. This gives administrators of multiple sites a bird’s eye view of not only overall attendance, but attendance at the activity level.

“Sharing information about what works is critical after school,” stated Kathy Stanton, VP of Operations. “If program leaders see one site coordinator with outstanding participation for their music program, for instance, they want to encourage sharing what’s working with other staff.” This type of analysis is easily available in the “data dashboard” and simple report generating features standard in the After School Manager.

For after school sites that have solid attendance solutions in place, Educational Resource Consultants also offers a service called the After School Report Card which compares after school attendance data to the school performance data on standardized tests. This correlation can be viewed at the student, school or district level.

“This report has been invaluable to our clients both for their state reporting and future grants,” said Dr Price. He went on to say, “When writing a new grant application, painting a picture of what you’ll do is important, but having the data proving what you’ve accomplished is far more compelling!”

Community Learning and Educational Resource Consultants  will be co-marketing their respective products, with a combined webinar series and joint attendance at leading after school conferences. They are also collaborating on online staff development training modules and new curriculum programs focusing on career development and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

About Community Learning LLC
Community Learning is the developer of interactive curriculum kits, created around high interest, thematic topics that engage students in learning through hands-on activities and projects. Their learning topics are designed to immerse children in fun learning that’s experiential, relevant and fun. To find out more about Community Learning go to www.CommLearning.com.

About Educational Resources Consultants
ERC is an educational consulting firm specializing in program evaluation, software systems and data analysis that enable school districts, colleges, universities, and community-based organizations to enhance sustainability for educational programs. To find out more about ERC and the After School Manager go to www.ercdata.com.
 

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Have your students take a shot at a $30,000 scholarship in Google's Doodle contest, where students compete to create a logo based on "If I could travel in time, I'd visit…" theme. 

This could be great fun as an after school project that everyone could try. Here's the kicker the school would also benefit by receiving $50,000 technology grant!! 

 Take a look at the video below or click here to get all the details.  Good luck!