Course

to
what to
solve
Detectives
in flip flops
BOAT
STEAM
Paloma Muiña

Illustrations by
Clara Soriana
The project
To star in a detective story you don't need to wear a raincoat or even a
magnifying glass. All you need is a swimsuit, a pair of flip-flops and, above all,
good friends.

With the project Heading towards new mysteries to solve, we aim for students to
navigate beyond the pages of a book, providing them with the necessary tools to
open themselves to other seas and dive into their own lives with curiosity and
optimism.

pedagogical objective
Reading Detectives in Flip Flops and carrying out the activities proposed below will
help students discover and practice the skills of a good detective which, in turn, will
help them discover qualities such as capacity for effort, perseverance and, above all, ,
values such as friendship and respect .

Solving mysteries is not as difficult as it seems!

Necessary materials
Create a detective club and solve a Key competencies
Task mystery as a team.
• Linguistic communication
Links with other areas • Mathematical competence and basic skills in Science
and Technology
69 Physical Education
• Social and civic skills
• Sense of initiative and entrepreneurial spirit
o Plastic and Visual Education • Learn to learn
© Music • Digital competence
( Social Sciences
C Natural Sciences
0 Mathematics
Pencil small bowl
Eraser • Makeup brush
Pencil sharpener mechanical pencil
Cardboards leads wide adhesive tape
Glue White paper
Scissors Mirror
Paintings Lemon juice
Photographs Internet
ink

2
 We prepare the trip 70a 51927F92
1

Methodological suggestions
before reading
Before starting this journey heading towards new mysteries
11 to solve , we fill our backpack with ideas, memories and
moments that will accompany us along the way.
Nor can we forget our navigation log . In it, young
adventurers will be able to reflect their experiences, starting
with these three steps:

Ml

II
All aboard
234
On
Route

let's make the

trip
1 Like good travelers, before setting sail, we contextualize the
topic of the project by analyzing what super detectives are like .

We show the students several fragments of children's movies or series

in which detectives appear. For example:

Inspector Gadget: www.e-sm.net/inspector_gadget •

Sherlock Holmes: www.e-sm.net/sherlock_holmes (

Basil, the super detective mouse: www.e-sm.net/basil U

Inspector Clouseau: www.e-sm.net/clouseau •

Shaggy and Scooby-Doo detectives: www.e-sm.net/scooby •

Sherlock Yack: www.e-sm.net/sherlock_yack V

In groups, they will describe what each of the characters is like.

They will combine the characteristics that they like most about these
characters and define their perfect detective.

They will make a mural with the description and drawing of their own super
detective.

a mystery between
several people. A
good detective never
works alone!
3 We propose to students to create a detective club in the classroom.
Watch out to port! t—uu)
When we work as a team,
sometimes it is difficult to
agree. The best thing is to
think that every idea
counts . On top of it we
can build new ones until
we reach a solution in
which we have all
participated .
All aboard
We start the navigation log , which will accompany us throughout the entire
project. To do this, each student will define their own hidden identity on the
first page following these instructions:
Invent your pseudonym or secret name.
Paste a photograph of yourself or make a drawing.
Create your secret image, drawing or pasting elements on your
photograph that hide your face ( hat, sunglasses, beard,
mustache, wig, eyepatch , etc.).
Print your fingerprint in ink as a signature.
Complete the final questions about your qualities as a detective.
We Dialogue : Why have you written those qualities? Do
you think you're a good detective? Have you ever solved a
mystery? Did you do it alone or with someone? What
would you need to become a super detective?
First, we brainstorm ways to achieve this. We can start from the following
questions: What do we need to learn to be good detectives? What will identify
our club? What are the requirements to belong to it? What will be your rules?
What types of cases will you handle?
4
We transformed our class into a detective school and divided it into six work
teams. Each team will be a detective club.
In their first meeting they will decide on a name for the club, a logo, a motto
and some rules. All this data will be collected in section 1 of the
navigation log .
Finally, each student will make
his detective card .
4
With the teams formed, we develop activities to learn and practice some of the techniques and skills of a good
detective .

To set the scene and decorate the classroom , we ask students to print or draw spy utensils: magnifying glasses, gloves,
binoculars, notebook , etc., or portraits or scenes related to their favorite detective series and movies.

Next, we carry out some of the following activities:

Description contest . In teams, they will describe a person known to everyone, a common place and an object that is
visible. Then, in turns, each group will read their descriptions; The classmates will have ten seconds to write what
person, place or object they think it is in each case.

At the end, the students will give a vote to the detective club that has best made each of the
descriptions and to those that have thought of the most original people, places and objects. They
will record their scores in section 2 of the navigation log .

We play to guess people or characters through a robot portrait of classmates, teachers, well-
known people, etc. If necessary, we explain that a robotic portrait is "the reconstruction of
someone's image following the description of another person who knows them ."

WNA

BBS

In section 3 of the logbook , students will draw a sketch of

a well-known person or even of themselves.
As a guide, you can use the computer application at the following link:
4
www.e-sm.net/robot_portrait UU

6
06 Like good detectives, we are going to discover the fingerprints of our
environment. For this we carry out the following experience:

We prepare a small bowl (preferably with a lid), a makeup brush, leads

from a mechanical pencil or a piece of charcoal, wide adhesive tape and
white paper.

We grind the mines or charcoal into powder.

We take a little dust with the brush and pass it over the surface where we think there may be fingerprints. If
there are footprints, they will appear in a few moments.

We place a piece of adhesive tape over the footprint and stick it on a white sheet to see
it better. It can be pasted in section 4 of the logbook where, in addition, students will
compare their own footprint with that of a classmate.

To observe the fingerprint more clearly, it can be scanned and reproduced on the
computer screen at a larger size.

We play a memory game following these steps:

Ask several students to stand still, as if they were statues. A group of observing students will take a good look
@EITHER €)6

at the scene.

The observers leave the classroom and some of the students in the group of statues change positions.

The companions re-enter, who will have to find out what has changed.

Detectives know how to read and write hidden messages . To practice, we choose one of the following
procedures:

We place a piece of paper on top of the sheet on which we want to write the secret message and we write the
message on the sheet of paper by pressing hard. The bottom page will be blank, but if you pass a pencil with
the tip down, the message will appear written in white.
"•== I Watch out to
starboard!
We write words in mirror, as if they were written backwards. If we place the
message in front of a mirror, we can read it correctly. Through play, children
learn, but we cannot let the
We create a message with "invisible ink." To do this, we write the text on a white sheet desire
of to win
paper ruinlemon
with the fun.juice and
wait for it to dry. To read the message, we ask an adult to pass the iron over the
sheet resting on a cloth or, very carefully, we bring the sheet closer to a lamp or candle until the letters appear.
 We investigate the secret codes :

©0 6
We help students search for information on the Internet about what secret codes
are and what they are for.
We play to invent and decipher words through Morse code.
In section 5 of the logbook you can write some of the words in the game in
We present Morse code as “a system of representing letters and
numbers using intermittent sound signals.”

f 7 « J.

Morse.

We propose to each detective club to invent its own secret code. Students will
write their team code in section 6 of the logbook to be able to exchange
messages.

8
6 We ask the students to remember a situation in which, like Cata, they have

After reading
Once they have read the book Detectives en
chanclas , we invite students to invent their
own mystery to solve by putting into practice
the qualities of a good detective.
The logbook activities will help you achieve
this:

Full speed ahead

in sight!
10
We disembark
12
adapted to a new place ( change of house, change of school , etc.) and we ask What have we
them how they felt and what they thought. We will write down the learned on this
trip?
contributions on the board.

We brainstorm in which, next to each emotion or thought, the students will

write what they think others could do to make the newcomers feel better.

With the above ideas, each detective club will create a small welcome
manual for new members who join.

7 In some way, it would behoove us to become detectives when it comes to getting

to know other people. "•=m= I Watch out to
starboard!
In section 7 of the logbook , students will describe a child from another A good detective (and a
class that they do not know. good friend) does not get
carried away by
They will ask a friend of theirs to tell them what it is really like. appearances and is able to
see beyond people's
external appearance.
They will compare the two descriptions

We Dialogue : Which description do you think is more accurate?

Because? Do you think your friends think the same about you as people you
don't know? Can we really know people by appearances? What have you
learned doing this activity?

9
Watch out to
8 Each detective club is made up of very different people. To reflect on how these
port! II
The key to a good differences affect the group, we carry out the following dynamics:
detective club is not in
the ability to search for We analyze each of the members of the gang of friends from Detectives en
clues, in photographic chanclas , describing them all and highlighting their best qualities.
memory or in
sophisticated
espionage tricks, but in
We dialogue based on reading: Are Cata and her friends "perfect"? They are
the sum of the qualities equal? Did you have to change to be friends? Could one alone have discovered
of each of its members. the mystery of urbanization? In our club do we all have to become the perfect
detective that we described at the beginning of the project? Because? Why is it
better to form a detective club than to investigate alone?

Together we think about what each member of the gang contributed to

discovering the mystery of the robberies in the urbanization.
We can reflect our conclusions in section 8 of the logbook .

Now think about yourself and your friends and choose one quality of each
that could be useful to the detective club.
 9 It is time to show that we can solve enigmas and mysteries as a team. To do
this, we choose a day to play the game Mission: Detectives at School .

© For a while, each team will prepare a game of clues to solve a mystery at their
school. Another group will have to solve it. w In this game, students will be able to
apply everything they have previously learned in detective school. Depending on
each case, it will be decided whether it will be a mystery to be solved in the class,
in an area of the school or in the entire school.

To begin, the conditions of each set of clues will be established. For example:

Give it a title that makes it clear what the mystery to be solved is: Where
is my sandwich?; The disappearance of erasers;
The Spy Professor...

Create a game of 6 to 10 clues that include at least the following

items:

A robot portrait.

A presentation: a letter, a recording, a drawing, etc.

The search for footprints.

Use of a secret code.

Reading a secret message (in a mirror, text marked on a sheet, etc.).

Before the afternoon of the games arrives, each team will conduct a general
rehearsal of their clue game to check that there are no errors and that their
mystery can be solved.

In section 9 of the logbook , each student will describe the mystery of their
equipment.
 I Land to (sight!
At last the great day has come. It's time to play the game Mission:
Detectives at School . Beforehand, students will have time to place
all their clues at school.

Watch out to port! s= ••mp

0 We draw the missions at random. Each team will have to
To continue traveling solve its turn (if any team gets its mission, the draw will be
and discovering repeated). Students will be able to record their findings in
mysteries, there is no
section 10 of the navigation log .
way to get another good
book. In A Detective
Inside Out U
We will
accompany the 11 A few days after carrying out the game, each detective club will explain to the
protagonist in others what their mission consisted of, indicating their difficulties, what
solving the cases role each member of the team had in the investigation, what each one
verse by verse
and step by step.
contributed, what they found most original, if they would change
something, etc.

YO. J We disembark
12 To share everything we have learned throughout this project, we organized an
exhibition showing the work carried out. Families or students from other
courses can be invited.

Different workshops will also be organized to teach our visitors the skills
and abilities of a good detective: drawing a robot portrait, writing a secret
message, deciphering a code, etc.

What have we learned

on this trip?
13 To finish, we suggest that the students carry out the brief
reflection and metacognition exercise collected
in the section What have I discovered in my
detective club? from the logbook .

1
3
What
multiple intelligences have we worked on?
Linguistic-verbal

1
4
 Mathematical logician
15 7
6 6
Use of written language to obtain and organize Reading and using graphic organizers
information. 1
28 Classification and comparison.
Debate. 5 9 10
9 10 11 12 Decryption and creation of codes.
Oral presentation.
Bodily-kinesthetic Visual-spatial
5 1 12
Manipulation and experimentation with objects. Mural composition.
5 2 4 5 7 9 10

Mime and imitation games. Production of plastic works.

15

Use of audiovisual media.

Musical Intrapersonal
23
5 68
Expression of one's own ideas and emotions.
Song interpretation.
13
Metacognition.
Naturalist
5 9 10
Manipulation and experimentation with different
objects and materials.

1
5
Interpersonal
4 9 10
Creative projects in groups.
7
Analysis of communicative situations and
interpersonal conflicts.

1
6