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Students at Martinsville Middle School learned to analyze evidence to solve a mystery during a Mystery Science Dinner Theater last week. Above, student detectives Rebekah Potter, 12, (left) and Ashley Hairston, also 12, work on their clues. |
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
By ELIZA WINSTON - Bulletin Staff Writer
Martinsville Middle School students have solved the case of the MMS bandit.
The case was solved during a Mystery Science Dinner Theater in Martinsville Middle School’s cafeteria. More than 40 people — students, their parents and siblings — attended Thursday’s event.
During the event, the students learned crime-solving techniques, such as finger-printing and handwriting analysis. They were given a chance to question the “suspects” — their teachers — before charging the guilty party. At the end of the event, everyone was treated to dinner donated by Chick-fil-A.
Amy Sabarre, the NASA-SEMAA director for Martinsville Schools, led the Mystery Science Dinner Theater. SEMAA stands for Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy. The program offers activities to encourage student interest in those fields.
Martinsville Middle School Co-Principal Zeb Talley said the SEMAA program is unique because Sabarre provides many activities that promote parent involvement.
Activities such as the Mystery Science Dinner Theater combine measurements, math and science in a way that makes learning fun for youth, and the activities encourage parent involvement, Talley said.
Sabarre said the family night activities are offered each quarter for students. Programs are different each time, but she decided to offer the theater because children could learn forensics while still having math and science skills reinforced.
“Whenever she does a family night activity, she really goes all out,” Talley said. “The kids love it, and many of our best students come out with their parents for each activity night.”
Doing well in science and math is important, and many of the activities incorporate SOLs, Talley said. Also, the hands-on way of learning makes the students excited and interested.
Students had to use math, measurement and science skills to solve the mystery, said Sabarre.
The evening began with a discussion between Sabarre, who was dressed as Sherlock Holmes, and her sidekick Watson, also known as Sabarre’s daughter, 12-year-old Hailey McCollum.
The crowd learned through the discussion that a telescope had been stolen from the SEMAA lab the week before. According to Sabarre, there were five suspects, all of whom work at Martinsville Middle School.
She showed photos of the suspects on a board and announced their names. The students gasped in shock, turning around to see the suspects in question, sitting at the back of the cafeteria.
Robin Barbour, bookkeeper; Martha Lambert and Chanda Prillaman, seventh-grade teachers; Margie Agee, computer teacher; and Regenia Noel, also a seventh-grade teacher, were announced as suspects. A packet of information containing each subject’s thumbprint and handwriting sample also was distributed.
Before the subjects could be questioned, everyone had to learn basic forensic techniques. First, they learned how to get footprints using aluminum tins filled with sand. Aronda Osbourne and her daughter Misty, 3, compared Misty’s footprint with that of MMS student Jewel Nichols, 12, and measured each footprint with rulers provided by Sabarre.
The students and families then learned to take their thumbprints and lip impressions. The boys were told they didn’t have to participate in the lip impressions, which required putting lipstick on a Popsicle stick and then smearing it onto the lips.
Next, the group learned about handwriting analysis, and then participants were set free to question the suspects and get samples of their footprints. Sabarre explained that evidence was located on a nearby table, including a print of the perpetrator’s shoe.
Student Joseph Ward, 11, noticed that the shoe-print matched the heel size of Robin Barbour’s shoe. Student Ethan Haley, 12, questioned Barbour on her whereabouts on the night of the crime. She claimed to have been at Walmart and held out a receipt for proof. However, the receipt had the wrong date on it.
Sabarre announced that time was up, and several fingers pointed to Barbour as the guilty party. She cried that she was not guilty, but Joseph and Ethan marched up to her with others pointing fingers and telling her she should be ashamed.
A judge was called onto the scene, and Barbour was found guilty. She finally admitted she “borrowed” the telescope in the hopes of discovering a new planet and getting Martinsville Middle School nationally recognized.
Despite her pleas, the judge decided she must serve time. Instead of going to jail, Barbour was sentenced to work at Martinsville Middle School with no weekends, vacations or bathroom breaks for the rest of her life. |
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