John Hay Biomedical • Original simulated practice • PBS1282
The Case Opens: Case A (STATIC, a recording studio)
PBS • Week 3 • Investigation Day 4 • September 10, 2026 • PBS1282 works Case A. Keep its facts separate from the other section's case.
Your work today
Read your section's case documents. Record ten entries labeled observation (O) or inference (I). Start the timeline with sources and write one open question for the next scene walk.
Complete the existing Daily Evidence Sheet, Parts A to E. In Part C, explain in 3 to 5 sentences why today's documents cannot answer your open question. Include and label one observation and one inference from your table.
Hand in the paper sheet or submit one PDF to Wk3 D04 · The Case Opens (PLTW 1.1.1), assignment 8520290030. The deadline is September 10, 2026 at 11:59 PM. Your notebook pages stay in your Investigative Notebook. Today's portal page links everything below.
Your documents and where they are
- Investigation Day 4 pack, Case A (5 pages): briefing, released documents, procedures.
- Daily Evidence Sheet, Day 4 (9 pages): the worked model on pages 2 to 3, your make-up extracts on pages 4 to 5, Parts A to E from page 6.
- Investigative Notebook pages 10 to 12: the Day 4 Cornell page, the master timeline (eleven rows, room for the ten-entry log) and the suspect matrix. Do not complete later-day pages.
- 911 call, STATIC case: the fictional dispatch recording for your case. The source script is printed at the end of this page.
- PBS1282 official PLTW handouts and daily directions, kept separate from this practice.
What can a document tell you?
An observation records what a document states or shows. An inference adds an explanation, estimate or calculation. Labeling the difference lets someone check your work.
A caller's words are evidence of what the caller reported. They do not automatically prove the caller's explanation. Write "the caller reports" when that distinction matters.
A timeline puts events in time order and names each source. Think of the source column as a label on a folder: it helps you find the record again, and the label alone does not prove the record is correct.
Keep the source beside the statement. Keep the question beside the gap.
Cause and manner, before you read the briefing
Cause of death means the injury or disease responsible for the death. Manner of death describes the circumstances. Those questions require different evidence, and today's case documents leave both open. The briefing uses a machine analogy (what broke versus how it happened); bodies have interacting injuries and diseases, so the comparison has limits. The briefing's blood loss, brain injury and infection are general examples, not findings in either classroom case. A statement that a heart stopped does not identify the underlying injury or disease.
Optional reference for the definition: CDC, instructions for completing the cause-of-death section of the death certificate (medical examiner and coroner version, two pages). It is a professional reference, not a form for you to complete.
Separate worked model: the bicycle shop
This fictional practice example comes from both Day 4 evidence sheets, pages 2 to 3. It is separate from Cases A and B. Do not place its events in your case log.
The practice call record states a call time of 2:38 AM. The caller says they arrived about six minutes earlier. The alarm company's separate log records an alarm at 2:05 AM.
| Time | Entry | Source | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2:38 AM | The call record states this call time. | Practice DOC-1 | O |
| About 2:32 AM | Arrival estimated by subtracting six minutes from 2:38 AM. | Practice DOC-1 plus arithmetic | I |
| 2:05 AM | The alarm log records the alarm. | Practice alarm log | O |
The calculated arrival stays approximate because the caller said "about". Each row keeps its source. The alarm time and the arrival time describe different events.
Time method: arrival time = call time minus the stated delay. Time gap = call time minus arrival time. Hours = minutes divided by 60 minutes per hour. Practice: 2:38 minus 2:32 gives six minutes; six divided by 60 gives 0.1 hours.
For Case A, the arrival comes from DOC-1 and arithmetic: the call time minus the caller's stated delay. Keep "about" on the result because the delay was approximate.
Work through the same sheet
- Read the briefing and glossary. Complete Part A using the assigned reading. Where Part A asks for a citation, copy the first three words of the sentence you used.
- Record ten O/I entries with their sources in the initial observations log. If you need more room, continue on the back or on a continuation page in the same submission; the notebook's master timeline page also has eleven rows.
- Complete Part B. Your first timeline needs at least five entries, each with a source and an O/I label. You may reuse entries from your ten-entry log.
- Compare what the sources say about the same detail for B2. State what agrees, what differs and what remains unknown. A routine describes usual behavior; it does not confirm today's event.
- For B3, show the arrival-to-call calculation with units. Case A uses DOC-1 for both times. Use the formula in the worked model.
- Write the open question and its 3 to 5 sentence explanation in Part C. Complete the vocabulary use in Part D and the existing self-check in Part E.
One correction to read before Part B
Case A's sheet, pages 4 and 5, calls the usual locked-studio routine corroboration of the locked-door statement. Read it this way instead: the routine is consistent with the statement and does not confirm it happened this time. Write the routine as its own row (Background card, O) and the door statement as the caller's report (DOC-1, O).
Absent or new? Your case's make-up extracts
All ten entries below come from your evidence sheet, physical page 4. They are excerpts or close paraphrases of its public make-up table, not new interviews or medical findings. Write "canned data set" at the top of Part B when you use them. Allowed sources for your case: DOC-1 (the dispatch call record) and the background card.
| Time in source | Supplied information | Named source on page 4 | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7:40 AM Monday | The operator stamps the call at 7:40 AM Monday. | DOC-1 | O |
| No clock time | The caller says, "I badged in like two minutes ago to open up." | DOC-1 | O |
| About 7:38 AM Monday | Badge-in computed as 7:40 minus two minutes. An inference from an approximate statement. | DOC-1 plus arithmetic | I |
| None | The caller says, "The door was locked like normal." | DOC-1 | O |
| None | The caller reports the person behind the console, a speaker cabinet on his legs and a blanket. | DOC-1 | O |
| None | The caller reports that he is cold and guesses he has been there a while. The row records the caller's guess. | DOC-1 | O |
| None | The card lists childhood type 1 diabetes, no current physician and an insulin fill that lapsed and was never renewed. | Background card, records | O |
| Past several weeks | Two clients reportedly noticed fatigue, frequent energy drinks, weight loss and thirst. Secondhand reports. | Background card, secondhand statements | O |
| Friday to Monday, usual routine | The card describes weekend mixing sessions alone, with the studio locked and phone off. A routine. | Background card | O |
| Two weeks before | The card states that he refused a business partner's buyout offer. | Background card | O |
Supplied help on physical page 5
- The sheet supplies a two-minute gap, about 0.03 hours. The arrival estimate comes from DOC-1 and arithmetic. Keep "about" with the computed arrival because the caller's interval is approximate.
- The caller's locked-door statement is consistent with the background routine. The routine does not independently confirm that the door was locked on this occasion. Where the sheet calls this corroboration, read it as consistency with an open question.
- The sheet's public make-up example asks what is under the cabinet and blanket and what the floor near the console shows. That is an example open question, not a required answer.
- The supplied matrix guidance leaves the evidence-for and evidence-against columns empty and keeps motives in the claimed column. Keep responsibility unresolved; do not invent evidence to fill blank cells.
Case B belongs to PBS6782; its records never enter Case A's log.
Terms, grouped by where you first use them
Core terms, used from the first entry
| Term | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| Observation (O) | Something directly recorded or reported in a source. Keep the wording clear about who reported it. |
| Inference (I) | An explanation, estimate or calculation you add using the evidence. |
| Source | The document or record where information came from. |
| Document ID | A label such as DOC-1 that identifies a source. |
| Evidence | Information used to check a question or claim. |
Timeline terms, used in Part B
| Term | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| Time stamp | A clock time attached to an event. Write "none" if the source gives no clock time. |
| Timeline | Events organized by time, with sources. |
| Elapsed time | The time between two events. |
| Decimal fraction of an hour | Part of an hour written as a decimal; divide minutes by 60. |
| Hard or soft timeline field | The notebook's distinction between a firm recorded time and an approximate time. Keep the sheet's O/I labels too. |
Source terms, used in B2
| Term | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| Dispatch | The emergency call record used at the start of this classroom case. |
| Transcript | A written version of spoken words. |
| Background card | The supplied summary of records, routines and reported statements about the fictional person. |
| Secondhand statement | A report of what someone else said or noticed. |
| Routine | Something a person usually does. It may not have happened on this occasion. |
| Corroboration | Independent sources supporting the same specific claim. A usual routine alone does not confirm a particular event. |
| Conflict between sources | Statements that differ about a detail. Check their timing and meaning before deciding they contradict. |
Cause and manner, used in the briefing
| Term | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| Cause of death | The injury or disease responsible for the death. |
| Manner of death | The category of circumstances: natural, accident, homicide, suicide or undetermined. |
| Natural | A manner involving disease. |
| Accident | A manner involving an unintended fatal event. |
| Homicide | A manner involving another person's action causing death; it does not itself decide criminal guilt. |
| Suicide | A manner involving a person's intentional action to end their own life. |
| Undetermined | The available evidence does not establish the manner. |
Matrix and lead terms, used in the notebook
| Term | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| Lead | A question or detail to investigate next. |
| Person of interest | Someone whose possible connection is being examined. This label does not establish responsibility. |
| Suspect matrix | A table for organizing possible connections and evidence for and against them. |
| Motive | A possible reason for an action. A suggested motive is not proof of an action. |
| Means | A possible way or ability to carry out an action. |
| Opportunity | A possible chance to carry out an action. |
| Claimed | Stated or suggested, with confirmation still needed. |
| Claim ceiling | The limit on what today's evidence allows you to conclude. |
| Cornell page | A notebook page with space for notes, questions and a summary. |
Case A word help
| Word | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| Console | A control desk for sound equipment. |
| Cabinet | A box that holds a speaker. |
| Badged in | Used an entry badge to open a door. |
| Lapsed prescription fill | A prescription that was not renewed. |
| Buyout | An offer to buy someone's share of a business. |
Use these case terms to read the fictional records. Today's work asks for evidence organization, not diagnosis or emergency treatment.
Check before turning in
Your same submission contains the ten-entry O/I log, first timeline entries with sources, and the open question with its Part C explanation. Finish the existing sheet's other prompts too. The notebook organizers support this work; they are not extra uploads. No separate ethics paragraph, custody report or scene verdict is assigned.
What remains open
Today you may identify statements, compare sources, calculate a time gap and explain an unanswered question. You may not name the case's cause of death, manner of death or a responsible suspect. Carry your open question to the next scene walk and look for evidence that could answer it.
This is original John Hay practice supporting Activity 1.1.1, A Sketchy Scene. It does not complete the separate official PLTW activity; that work continues in myPLTW to the stopping point named in class.
Dispatch source script, Case A
This is the original fictional classroom script the recording was produced from. It has not been checked word for word against the audio, so treat it as a source script, not a verified transcript. The call is an evidence-reading scenario with invented people and places; it is not emergency-response guidance.
| Speaker | Words |
|---|---|
| OPERATOR | 911, what is your emergency? |
| CALLER | I need... somebody needs to come to Statik Sound, the studio on the corner lot. My partner is on the floor and he's not moving. He's cold. |
| OPERATOR | What is your name, and is the person breathing? |
| CALLER | Terrence Cole. No. No, he's not breathing, he's... he's been here a while, I think. Oh man. Marcus. |
| OPERATOR | Units are on the way. Are you in danger? Is anyone else there? |
| CALLER | No, the door was locked like normal. I badged in like two minutes ago to open up. He's behind the console. The big speaker cabinet is down, it's on his legs, there's a blanket... I didn't move anything. I watch those shows, I know not to touch anything. |
| OPERATOR | Stay on the line and stay by the entrance. Do not touch anything. Time of this call is 7:40 AM, Monday. |