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Discovery

Whodunnit at Waikato

Peter Hodder

On a warm summer evening in Hamilton a group of students looked at the car parked in the corner of the yard. There were pieces of tree caught up in the wheel arches and poking out of the radiator. There were plastic bags of vegetation samples, bottles of water and a motley collection of clothing in the boot. There was sand and mud in the footwell on the driver's side of the car. What was it all about?

This was the opening scene at Waikato University's first Summer School for senior high school science students. Summer schools organised by universities for this audience are not new, but this particular one differed in that it was interdisciplinary, involving a whole range of sciences in a classic whodunnit.

The objective was for students to collect evidence that apparently either belonged to or was associated with a "missing" visiting Austrian botanist. The students went on a field trip up Tarawera and to the adjacent Waimangu geothermal area to further unravel the mystery, as well as of course seeing the surrounding biology, geology, and chemistry of the region.

Upon their return, each group of five students had two days to undertake a variety of tests on their "evidence" to deduce a likely explanation for the botanist's disappearance. The tests included:

  • matching collected vegetation to herbarium samples
  • microscopic rock, soil, and fibre analysis
  • cultivating and growing micro-organisms in the hot spring water samples
  • chemical analysis by atomic absorption
  • mineral identification by X-ray diffraction
  • fibre analysis by electron microscopy

Graduate students and staff gave brief introductions to the techniques and facilities available, but each group had to decide which laboratory tests they would do and when.

Throughout their investigations students tried to glean from the organisers what the "right" answer was. The answer given was consistently "the story that best fits the evidence you have". What we were trying to do was to get the participants to work up a scenario, test it against the evidence they had accumulated, and modify it accordingly. The possibility that there could be more than one scenario that would explain all the data was clearly troublesome to some students -- science might indeed work that way, but often science teaching focuses on a single right way or result.

The obvious inference was that the missing botanist had been murdered. (The media, thought so too, judging by the amount of coverage the summer school achieved!). On Thursday afternoon the groups were told that a woman had been found, injured and suffering from amnesia, and taken to hospital. Due to her injuries and her poor command of English, it had taken time to establish her identity. We produced a fax written in German advising that the botanist's niece was on her way and would be present for the "hearing".

This little episode reminded the students that each group had to present their scenario at a formal enquiry on Friday. Friday morning was the last chance for laboratory work and to prepare materials for the presentations at the hearing, ranging from overhead transparencies to dramatic "re-enactments". At the hearing, groups were subjected to questions from other groups and the organisers who formed an expert panel.

No two scenarios were the same, although, as expected, there were elements in common. Even at this stage we were at pains to point out that all of the scenarios were equally valid, provided they fitted the data. There were instances where students had got samples confused or missed significant evidence, but this served to remind them that science -- in reality -- is subjective and incomplete.

Participants commented, both during the programme and in the final formal evaluation, how some science areas they had thought irrelevant or tedious were now more interesting and they could see purpose in them.

Many summer schools require students to select topics related to specific sciences from a range of options offered. This can have the effect of "locking in" student preferences for and prejudices against particular subject areas. An interdisciplinary or thematic approach counters this.

We think that the interdisciplinary character of the Waikato programme is a particular strength. It gave the week-long school a focus -- a theme within which the students can work. The need to plan their own timetable of investigation and to take responsibility for their work on the evidence is an important professional skill for them to acquire. And the presentation of results before a peer audience is a good foretaste of making a case for financial support for a project, or presenting a conference paper. It also makes explicit the implicit idea that undisseminated scientific results do not justify the time or money spent to determine them.

An interdisciplinary approach is possible with a wide variety of environmental, forensic and technological topics and themes. That students reacted so well both to the theme of the programme and to its management and presentation aspects suggests that such an approach could be adopted more widely in other educational settings. If our experience is anything to go by, students will love science the better for having had such an opportunity.

Peter Hodder is a senior lecturer in earth science at Waikato.