Phase: Analyze MYP:5

Reflective Learners
ATL : Critical thinking skills:
 Draw reasonable conclusions and generalizations; consider ideas from different
perspectives
Read the story below, about the mystery man, write a headline that in your opinion captures
the most important aspect that should be remembered
In 2006, a badly beaten, dying man was dropped off at a hospital emergency department in
wales, United Kingdom. Who was he, and how did he come to be there? His hair had not
been cut for more than a year, and it would provide vital clues.
Every month, our hair grows about 1cm in length. The mixture of isotopes in the emerging
strand is determined by out diet, and provides a record of our geographical location. Even a
few days of international travel will leave its trace in your hair. The dead man’s hair revealed
he had been in the UK for about 10 weeks, after six or seven months in Germany. Before
that, he had lived in Ukraine.
The dead man’s route as revealed by his hair suggested he had risked travelling as an illegal
immigrant. This information led to a fingerprint database in Germany, and helped identify
him as Tran Nyugen, originally from Vietnam. A person’s identity reveals his connections.
Nyugen had been forced to pay off his debt to his people- smugglers by working for a drug
syndicate, and this caused him to become a casualty of gang warfare. Within two years of his
murder all these crimes had been uncovered, ultimately by using isoforensics, a new
application in the science of law that analyses evidence for subtle differences in the ratios of
chemical isotopes.
Reflecting on the messages in this story
1) State what an isotope is
2) Suggest how the number of neutrons in a nucleus makes a difference to the ‘kinetic
properties’ of molecules with these atoms.
3) Identify the branch of learning that use isotopes to track a person’s geographical
location.
4) Comment on how the observation that your geographic location is constantly being
recorded in your body makes you feel.
5) Evaluate whether drinking carbonated drinks all the time, would disguise your
geographic location. Where are the carbonated drinks that are on sale at your local
shops bottled?
6) Share your original headline with your peers and reflect on it. How would you change
it, based on your discussion? Evaluate how its message differs from what you would
have said initially