Here's a real life CSI application of algebra for your students.... Students have to solve a murder investigation using formulae (writing and substituting). They have to gather evidence at three locations: the crime scene, mortuary and forensic laboratory. Once they have collected their evidence, they examine a suspect list to identify the murderer. Crime scene – The suspect has left muddy boot prints at the crime scene. Students have to measure the boot print and step length to determine the suspect’s height. Mortuary – Students have to determine the time of death using body temperature. Forensic Laboratory – The victim died from chronic arsenic poisoning. Students have to determine for how long the victim was poisoned for. Answers included. Here are some other crime scene activities you may be interested in: Crime Scene Algebra - Using Formulae and Linear Regression Crime Scene Algebra - Using Formulae & Quadratic Equations

This is a student workbook that can supplement lessons on hypothesis tests for a population mean. I teach the stages of hypothesis testing using analogies to a criminal trial. My students like this comparison; they are more engaged and it helps them to see the relevance of the different stages. Once students are confident with the terminology, we create our own courtroom in the classroom and role-play the stages of hypothesis testing with students acting as the jury, prosecution, judge and defence. Contents of the workbook 1. A summary of the 5 stages of hypothesis testing 2. A detailed analogy to a criminal trial 3. One worked example 4. Space for students to complete their own examples. 5. Worksheets on: a. the null and alternative hypothesis b. type I and type II errors c. checking assumptions d. sampling distributions e. the normal distribution f. the t-distribution g. interpreting p-values Answers for worksheets provided in separate document. The preview file shows a selection of pages from the workbook.