Students practice adding and subtracting rational expressions by helping Detective Algebras solve a murder mystery!

Student Directions:

Detective Algebras needs your help! A murder has been committed…. Answer the following 12 clues to help Detective Algebras solve the crime! Every clue answered will help you and Detective Algebras discover

1) Who the murderer is

2) How the murder happened

3) Where the murder took place

Each clue you answer will help you to crack the case. Use your murder mystery recording sheet to help to guide your thoughts. The process of elimination will be of great help when you are working on this mystery. Be sure to stay on task. Who knows? If you don’t crack the case before the bell rings, you could be next…

Teacher Directions:

Print the twelve math "clues" and hang them around the room. Distribute the ”Murder Mystery Recording Sheet” to each student. The recording sheet will allow you to see your student's mathematical work and answers. It also contains the six different suspects, six different ways the murder happened, and the six possible murder locations. The more clues students solve, the more students will be able to eliminate or find the answers to these questions. For example, if a student learns that “Mr. Expresio had a calm day at the office building,” the student can imply Mr. Expresio is innocent and the crime did not take place at the office building.

Two different “Clue 12s” are provided so that you can change the ending for different class periods if you want. This activity is really great at getting your students to engage in mathematics in a fun and exciting way. It is also great at getting your students to SLOW DOWN AND CHECK THEIR WORK. This is because if a student does not correctly answer who the murderer is, how the murder happened, or where it took place, you can send them back to the clues to investigate even more closely! I recommend having students work in partners during this activity. Finally, students do not need to do the clues in order to solve this crime. To make your students feel like real detectives, it can be fun to try to “hide” the clues a bit.

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Algebra 1 Math Murder Mystery Bundle!

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