This activity introduces students to using evidence to select the best models from a set of alternatives. Students act as members of a jury tasked with deciding if a man named Sam Spade robbed a grocery store. Students are provided with a set of nine pieces of evidence, a few pieces at a time, and asked to use the evidence to decide if Sam is guilty or innocent. The activity also introduces the Model-Evidence-Link (MEL) matrix, which is a core PRACCIS scaffold aimed at helping students rate evidence quality and determine the relationship between each piece of evidence and the alternative models.
Download "The Case of Sam Spade" Activity (5 MB)
