Scientific+Questions

=Speaking Scientifically = I encourage you to ask questions which have a scientific basis. Some teams in past cases have wasted their first 2 questions by asking questions of a poor standard.

There are some links below which can be used to assist in asking scientific questions:

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Asking questions
This is always a tricky area for student investigators. During the investigation, Catchment HQ provides science experts to answer science-based questions from puzzled investigators.

Posing scientific questions is often difficult for students. Investigators should frame a question, every question should relate to a victim, a villain, a crime site or an issue.

It could be a simple question regarding the life cycle of a victim, such as ‘How many eggs does the kingfisher lay?’

It could be a more complex question that might help support a timetable for the crime, such as ‘How long does it take for a dam to affect the river vegetation downstream?’

The better questions will involve at least two of these areas as investigators strive to build their scenarios, such as:


 * What would happen to the Murray Cod if there were a dam on the river?
 * If stormwater flowed into the river for a day, how long would the high turbidity last?
 * Are there sedimentation problems in the Swan River?

Discuss and monitor the investigators’ questions and experts’ responses. This will help the investigators improve the quality of their own scientific inquiries, and it can provide clues as to where other teams are heading in their investigation.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Avoid questions that can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. These questions will not provide the team with helpful information. The science experts will not answer questions such as ‘What is the villain?’