The Fermilab ARISE Project

"Profile of a Murderer"

Project Synopsis

Scenario

References

Student Pages

Index

Description: Given information about five murders, students will be asked to predict if there is a pattern or if the acts were random. Using the discovered pattern, they will predict the location of three other victims with geometric construction. After locations are verified, students will research the toxic effects of various poisons on the human body. Using this data, they will use a qualitative analysis to verify the poison used in each murder. Each victim is killed with a different poison, the first letter of which, is an anagram for the name of the murderer.

Subjects: Geometry, Chemistry, Biology

Grade Level: 10 or 11

Learner Description: Average, college bound

Time Frame: One week

Learner Outcomes:

Geometry: construct vertices of a regular polygon

Biology: identify physiological effects of poisons
through pictures and descriptions via the internet

Chemistry: to perform qualitative analyses of samples
to identify the chemical nature of poisons


Authors: Mark Fertel from Best Practice High School, Chicago, Illinois; Katie Rushing-Anderson from Galva Jr/Sr High School, Galva, Illinois; and Tim Wagner from Stark County High School, Toulon, Illinois.
The Fermilab ARISE Project sponsored by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Education Office and Friends of Fermilab. Funded by the The Illinois State Board of Education.
Created: July 1, 1997
/arise/projects/krushing/synopsis.htm