A mysterious white powder left at the crime scene is the key clue in the mystery your class will solve. Five suspects are being questioned, but the police need the help of your children to identify this vital clue. Your children will become forensic scientists, carrying out a series of chemical tests and using what they’ve found out to identify the mystery powder.

Working in teams of five, your children will look at samples of different household chemicals, carrying out multiple tests and carefully observing all of the results. Every child will be given opportunities to carry out tests themselves and share their results with their team. This allows children to develop valuable skills including teamwork and communication as well as opportunities to ‘Work Scientifically’ by questioning, making comparisons and discussing reliability and accuracy of results. Children will also be able to draw conclusions from their results by determining the identity of the mystery powder and solving the crime!

One of our most popular KS2 workshops, this is often seen by teachers as a great cross-curricular opportunity for meaningful writing activities after the workshop has taken place. While remaining accessible, the workshop provides a suitably high level of challenge to children of all abilities. Children themselves particularly enjoy the hands-on science aspects and the variety of equipment used.

Curriculum links:

• Lower Key Stage 2 Programme of Study: Working scientifically
• Upper Key Stage 2 Programme of Study: Working scientifically
• Year 5 Programme of Study: Properties and changes of materials
• Key stage 3 Chemistry: Chemical Reactions

Documents:

• Risk Assessment for Crime Scene Science

Contact our schools team with any questions on [email protected].