Math Day Murder Mystery
Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program
Conference
May 30, 2013
Presenters
Jay Bumanglag
HiNTS Scholar
Jesse Robert
HiNTS Scholar
Dr. Diane Barrett
HiNTS Principal Investigator
Associate Professor of Education
University of Hawai’i at Hilo
diane.barrett@hawaii.edu
Introduction
You will be participating in an
excerpt from the a Math Day
Murder Mystery put on by the
Hawaiʻi Noyce Teacher
Scholarship recipients at the Big
Island Math Summit. Lesson
plans for these activities can be
found on the HiNTS website.
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~hints/hints.html
About the Big Island Math Summit
• The Big Island Math
Summit was
– a one-day event,
– scenario-based, and
– an active learning
professional development
opportunity for Big
Island teachers.
WE’VE GOT A MURDER
ON OUR HANDS!!!
•A Mathematics Professor has recently been murdered.
•Prime suspects include 5 HiNTS Scholars.
•Through a series of activities, based upon 5 Texas Instrument
activities, clues will be uncovered that will aid in the capture
the murderer.
•While 5 activities were conducted at the Math Summit, we
will only be doing the first two here due to time frame
constraints.
Tracks of a Killer
• Upon leaving the scene
of the crime, the
murderer left a trail of
footprints.
• You are to determine
whether or not there
exists a relationship
between stride length
or shoe size and height.
Hit and Run
• A stop sign was hit on
the night of the murder
and each HiNTS scholar
has evidence of bumper
damage.
• You will attempt to
recreate a hit and run
and compare it to
vehicle data retrieved
from the scholars’ cars.
Dropped at The Scene
• The victim managed to
put up a fight leaving the
murderer with a bloody
nose where drops were
discovered at the scene.
• CSI’s evaluated the blood
spatter from the crime
scene to predict the height
of the murderer was
between 5’ 7” and 6’1”.
Suspect Radius
• Suspects claimed they were
all occupied the day of the
murder which occurred in
UCB 314.
• The scholars got out of class
in UCB 314 at 3:00 pm.
• College Hall is on the other
side of campus from UCB.
Hot Air, Cold Body
10
0
°
70
°
T
(temperat
ure)
• To confirm suspects’
alibi, time of death must
be determined.
• A healthy human being
retains a normal body
temperature of
98.6°F.
• It was determined that
the window for the time
of death was between 4
and 5 pm.
30
°
20
°
t (time)
OK… Got Time of Death… Now What?
Name: Virgilio “VJ” Viernes
Name: Ashlee Kalauli
Height: 5’ 3”
Height: 5’ 7”
Whereabouts: Left class in
UCB. Walked across campus
to College Hall to meet with
Prof. Ruiz
Whereabouts: At
work across campus at
the Math Center until
she angrily stormed
out at 3:55pm.
Name: Derek Salinas
Height: 5’ 9”
Whereabouts: Outside Lava Lounge, right
next to UCB discussing an upcoming
paddling event.
Name: Jay Bumanglag
Height: 5’ 6”
Whereabouts: Buying a parking pass near
STB. Never got the parking pass, and was
late to class.
Name: Jesse Robert
Height: 5’ 7”
Whereabouts: Working the
weights at the SLC at the
usual time from 3pm - 5pm.
Text References
• Texas Instruments. (2005). Classroom Activities: Dropped at the Scene: Blood Spatter
Analysis. Retrieved from
http://education.ti.com/calculators/downloads/US/Activities/Detail?id=6305
• Texas Instruments. (2008). Classroom Activities: Hit and Run: Using Information from
an Event Data Recorder to Reconstruct and Accident. Retrieved from
http://education.ti.com/calculators/downloads/US/Activities/Detail?id=6379
• Texas Instruments. (2008). Classroom Activities: Hot Air, Cold Body. Retrieved from
http://education.ti.com/calculators/downloads/US/Activities/Detail?id=6380
• Texas Instruments. (2008). Classroom Activities: Tracks of a Killer. Retrieved from
http://education.ti.com/calculators/downloads/US/Activities/Detail?id=6369
• Texas Instruments. (2012). Forensics: Connecting Science Investigations with TI Data
Collection Activities. Retrieved from
http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/nonProductSingle/activitybook_forensi
cs.html