Happy New Year around the world to all the readers of the Innovative Teaching Newsletter! Here's to a year full of promise - for growth and learning for us and our students! We kick off the new year with a Mysteries edition - great sites on all kinds of mysteries as well as the logical reasoning processes that take place in solving them. I think you'll enjoy the offerings herein!

The eIditarod project is now up to 200 classes for the 2002 year with one week left to register. That shows a lot of growth - up from 125 classes who joined in last year. If you or someone you know would like to get in on the fun and learning, go to http://surfaquarium.com/e_iditarod.htm by January 11th!

Thank you for all your warm wishes during the holiday hiatus. I always enjoy hearing from each of you and I make a point to respond personally. A faithful friend and reader Susan Mastrola of Rhode Island (infamously known as "the Mast") asked me over break to do a Winter Olympics edition, and so I shall - next week. Just in time to prepare for the Salt Lake games. Thanks for a great suggestion Susan! And now on to Mysteries.....

• A. Pintura: Art Detective - http://www.eduweb.com/pintura/
  Here in The Case of Grandpa's Painting Fiona Featherduster commissions our sleuth to help her learn more about a painting left by her grandfather. As the painting is analyzed by its elements students traverse art history and help solve the mystery of this famous work of art. Very nicely done!
• History Mystery - http://teacher.scholastic.com/histmyst/index.asp
  Scholastic offers this nice collection of elementary-level mysteries from various time periods and regions of the world, encouraging students to use library sources and online research to help successfully identify significant figures and events from history. Offers feedback to student answers and opportunity for further investigation.
• Millennium Mystery Madness - http://library.thinkquest.org/J002344/
  It's not what it sounds like. This ThinkQuest entry does a thorough job of presenting the history of the mystery genre, the breakdown of the elements of a mystery, and a mystery scavenger hunt. There's extra resources and the opportunity for student mystery writing as well. Largely text-based it is best suited for upper elementary.
• Mystery Box - http://www.themysterybox.com/
  Combines stamp-collecting, history and mystery to provide a compelling website in which students can apply their deductive powers to all kinds of intriguing incidents. Consider the case of the missing mogul and the fictional detectives feature as two great ways to pique your students' interest.
• Mystery Master - http://www.geocities.com/logic_puzzler/
  This site break down detective work into the processes of logical reasoning used in solving a mystery. There are dozens of puzzles to solve offered by level of difficulty (one to five stars) - truly great hands-on applications of logic. There's even a shareware download of Mystery Master that allows you to create and solve logic puzzles.
• Mystery of the First Americans - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/first/
  Originally a PBS special, this site presents "the discovery and ensuing controversy over the Kennewick Man, a well-preserved, 9,000-year-old human skeleton found in Washington State in 1996" with special sections on carbon-dating and a Quick Time virtual reality presentation of the Kennewick Man's head.
• Mysterious Places - http://www.mysteriousplaces.com/
  Mysterious Places is a beautifully photographed site offers virtual tours of Easter Island, Chichen Itza, Mali, and Stonehenge. Each tour points out mysteries and controversies of the featured location and a collection of resources for further research. Excellent for secondary students.
• MysterNet's Kids' Mysteries - http://www.mysterynet.com/learn/sites/
  This neat site includes the Case of the Ruined Roses, the Darkmaster's Challenge, and a Quick-solve case of the Snack Shack. Students are challenged to help solve each case with interactive features that make learning fun. There's collections of previous mysteries too.
• Roanoke: A Mystery in History - http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/3826/
  A ThinkQuest Junior site that takes students on an investigation of the mystery of Roanoke Island circa 1587. Ideal for elementary students, this site isn't the most advanced in graphics and special effects but the content is well presented.
• Saturn Space Hotel: The Mystery of the Missing Plans - http://www.edleston.cheshire.sch.uk/projects/Mystery/mystery.htm
  Written and presented by Mr. Pitchford's Class at Edleston County Primary School in Crewe, Cheshire, England. Students are presented with the mystery of the missing plans for the Infinite Energy Machine and then are allowed to interview all different suspects in trying to figure out what happened to them. Definite elementary fun!
• Titanic Mock Trial - http://www.andersonkill.com/titanic/facts.htm
  This simulation offers all the evidence of the sinking of the Titanic and asks students to determine if Captain Smith can be held accountable for this historic maritime tragedy. So rich in primary sources it is best utilized by secondary students.
• Who Killed William Robinson - http://web.uvic.ca/history-robinson/
  This online mystery thriller is perfect for dramatic adaptation in the secondary-level classroom. Herein is a collection of historical documents, that relate to the death of William Robinson because a closer look at the evidence challenges the original guilty verdict. Great use of primary sources and drama!
  

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Next Week's Topic: The Winter Games

Please send in URL's of high quality sites which may be of interest to our readers to walter@surfaquarium.com! Also, I'm always looking for new topic ideas and input!

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