CASE NOW CLOSED!
On Friday 11th July prime suspect Zach Shaw was brought to court, charged with stealing the guitar from pop group Busted’s lead guitarist James Bourne.
Thousands of classes across the country submitted evidence… will Zach face a life behind bars? See what happened in court.
School winners
Planet Science minister Alan Johnson MP picked the six winning schools on Monday 14th July. All winners have now been contacted by the Planet Science team - check out who won here
Super Sleuth Training Challenge
The Super Sleuth quiz competition closed on July 18th 2003. Individual winners were notified by the Planet Science team.
More free resources
Even if you missed the competitions, there's still loads to do on this website. Check through the Teachers and Sleuth School sections of the site for more free downloadable resources for the classroom...
ABOUT THE WHODUNIT
The Planet Science Whodunit was a fun, free, forensic science activity suitable for students at KS2 and KS3 (years 4-9 only). It starred five big-name celebrities as the suspects in a fictional crime - the dastardly theft of Busted guitarist James Bourne's favourite guitar!
Using a free kit of evidence, schools up and down the country got busy on the case - and submitted their results to help bring the culprit to justice. The dastardly thief was revealed in a dramatic court room trial on July 11th 2003 - and you can read all about it in our downloadable photostory.
Want more? Here on the Planet Science website you'll find a host of extra goodies supporting the event, including downloadable resources, extension activities, additional forensic investigations to try at home and much much more...
These include theTeacher's Handbook, a guide to the event containing detailed instructions, planning advice, group work models and extension activities which can be used anytime you want to introduce a little forensics fun to the classroom- so take a look!
Tried and tested
The Whodunit is based on a similar event developed and run in Australia. Research conducted about that event shows an excellent return for both teachers and students. Here's a sample of what your Aussie colleagues have said about the event:
"My science programs must be designed to fit an 'outcomes' based education program (teaching for understanding). The competition allowed me to do this with less work than normally required. Participating in the competition has also given me the confidence to design similar assessment items for my classes. It has also reinforced my beliefs that science can be fun and still be about learning."
"Students couldn't wait till the next lesson."
"One particularly disengaged student who is frequently absent, attended school regularly during the competition specifically to take part."
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