Build the evidence board
Open your materials, follow the steps, then turn in your work.
Construct a team evidence board linking all evidence streams to a tentative conclusion.
1. Open your materials
2. Start the work
As a team, post each evidence item to the board by stream.
Show all 5 required steps
- As a team, post each evidence item to the board by stream.
- Draw links showing which items support each other and which items disagree.
- Flag gaps where evidence is missing or weak.
- Draft a tentative cause-of-death claim the board supports.
- Note each stream's limitations beside its evidence cluster.
Lost your place? Your board should have every evidence item posted by stream (step 1) and links showing which items support each other and which items disagree (step 2). If items are posted but no links are drawn, draw the links; then flag your gaps (step 3) and draft the tentative claim (step 4).
Check your work before submitting
- I can build an evidence board that links streams.
- I can identify gaps and conflicts in the evidence.
3. Turn in your work
DueCheck Schoology- Hand in
- Individual notebook entry: sketch or description of your team's evidence board, the tentative cause-of-death claim, one link you found most convincing between evidence items that support each other, and one gap your team could not fill.
How to submit and name your file
Upload the evidence board photo and your notebook entry to the tracker before leaving.
In Schoology, open your course and the assignment for this lesson. Attach your file, select Submit, and check that it appears in the submission.
PDF upload helpYou get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
Find this lesson's Schoology assignments
These are existing assignments for your section. Follow the directions in the assignment you are working on; this list does not add new work. Check Schoology for each deadline.
Link will not open? Open Schoology, choose your course and section, and find the title shown above.
How this lesson connects
Keep using what you learned last class: You weight each evidence stream by how it was collected, because a controlled test with an unbroken chain of custody earns more trust than an uncontrolled or interested account, and your report is only as strong as that weighting. Today: An evidence board makes an investigation's logic visible so that converging evidence and dangerous gaps both stand out, because a conclusion is only as strong as the gap it cannot yet explain.
Case background, evidence, and file details▸
How today connects to the case
Where: Statik Sound, a neighborhood recording studio. Who: Marcus Bell, 34, owner and producer of Statik Sound, found on the studio floor behind the mixing console on a Monday morning by his business partner.
The scene in our room is the scene in the case: tape at the door, the outline and torso behind the console, the lower body beneath a fallen speaker cabinet and an acoustic moving blanket. Responders left the scene as found, pending investigation.
Your job: By Day 18 your team names the manner and cause of death and backs each one with at least four exhibits across three different evidence types. Every claim stops where the evidence stops.
Today you will build the evidence board from the card kit: your case's reasoning made physical, then defended under peer cross-examination.
Remember: If the board cannot show it, the report cannot claim it. A conclusion you cannot diagram is a conclusion you do not understand.
- Project 1.2.6 Case Closed
This John Hay case practices skills connected to the PLTW activity above. Follow today's directions for the assigned work.
Missed class? Open today's worksheet and briefing. Use simulated data only if the worksheet or Mr. Mendoza provides it, and label it "Simulated data." If a required measurement or file is missing, ask Mr. Mendoza. Do not invent results.
Evidence released today
No new exhibits today. Work with what the case file already holds.
Exhibit means one numbered piece of evidence. Thread means the team lane it belongs to (Scene, Trace, Serology and DNA, Toxicology, Medical Examiner, Records). Exhibits are handed out on paper in class on the day they are released, and the same files are attached to that day's Schoology assignment.
Notebook reminders
- Investigation Day 17 pack (paper in class; the PDF is above and on the Schoology assignment)
- Investigative Notebook: Evidence board map (draw your final layout)
- Investigative Notebook: Day 17 Cornell page
Individual notebook entry: sketch or description of your team's evidence board, the tentative cause-of-death claim, one link you found most convincing between evidence items that support each other, and one gap your team could not fill.
Upload the evidence board photo and your notebook entry to the tracker before leaving.
Schoology assignment: Wk6 D17 · Build the Board (PLTW 1.2.6)
What the evidence can and cannot prove
- Classroom evidence supports a classroom finding. It cannot convict a real person or diagnose a real patient.
- A hair consistent with a person proves a hair like theirs was present, not that the person was, and never when.
- A fingerprint proves touch, not when or why. A pattern class narrows a crowd; only minutiae can name one finger.
- A presumptive test says maybe. Only a confirmatory test says blood, and only DNA says whose.
- One value outside its reference range is a flag, not a verdict.
Make only the claims your evidence supports. Explain what you still cannot tell.
Optional: listen or watch a unit review▸
Need help? Warm-up, timing, and directions▸
💡 Big idea: An evidence board makes an investigation's logic visible so that converging evidence and dangerous gaps both stand out, because a conclusion is only as strong as the gap it cannot yet explain.
- 0:00Distribute planning sheets from Tuesday; assign team roles (evidence organizer, link drawer, gap-flagging, scribe)
- 0:10Post all evidence items by stream (sticky notes, index cards, or shared digital board)
- 0:28Draw linking arrows: green = corroborates, red = conflicts; annotate conflicts with a question mark
- 0:48Flag gaps; note each stream's key limitation beside its cluster
- 1:02Draft and post tentative cause-of-death claim; team reaches consensus or notes dissent
- 1:05Gallery walk: teams briefly view two other boards; note one strength and one gap in each
- 1:15Return to own board; revise if needed; preview Thursday report writing
- • Today your team builds the evidence board. Think of it as the physical representation of your argument. Every piece of evidence gets a spot, and every link between pieces gets drawn.
- • Real detectives and scientists use evidence boards because they make the structure of the argument visible. You can see whether your evidence is converging on one conclusion or scattering in three directions.
- • When you find a conflict, do not hide it. Flag it. A board that shows one conflict with a resolution note is stronger than a board that pretends the conflict does not exist.
- • By the end of class you will have a tentative cause-of-death claim posted on the board. Tomorrow you turn that claim into a full written CER report.
- • Corroborating evidence is when two independent streams point to the same conclusion; conflicting evidence is when streams disagree and must be reconciled or acknowledged.
- • Evidence gaps are as important to document as evidence present; an unexplained gap is a weakness in any conclusion.
- • A tentative cause-of-death claim at this stage is a working hypothesis, not a final verdict; it is refined as gaps are addressed.
PLTW connection and today's work
In myPLTW, record your team's tentative cause-of-death claim and the number of corroborating and conflicting evidence links in the Project 1.2.6 Case Closed activity.
Today's stopping point: You completed the planning task Tuesday. Today the board should be complete with a tentative claim posted before the gallery walk.
PLTW activity titles identify the course connection. If your account will not open, use the posted materials for today and tell Mr. Mendoza. Do not mark an online activity complete unless you completed it.
Use the turn-in directions at the top of this page. Do not create a second submission unless your teacher asks for one.
Show another explanation or a smaller first step
Need help? Choose a starting point
Lesson resources: reading, slides, and vocabulary▸
The deck carries the prior idea forward, lets you inspect an analogy, maps the rule to biology, and ends with the same evidence decision and exit ticket used on this page.
Generated from this lesson's canonical data with a red-team citation check.
You weight each evidence stream by how it was collected, because a controlled test with an unbroken earns more trust than an uncontrolled or interested account, and your report is only as strong as that weighting.
An evidence board makes an investigation's logic visible so that converging evidence and dangerous gaps both stand out, because a conclusion is only as strong as the gap it cannot yet explain.
A detective board holds observations, possible explanations, and one next question.
- Which notes are direct observations?
- Which notes are explanations?
- What new evidence would separate the explanations?
Keep observations separate from explanations, then collect the evidence that can distinguish the options.
Biomedical investigations use controlled procedures and validated measurements, not intuition alone.
- • Board notes map to the signs, results and measurements you recorded.
- • Possible explanations map to the competing biological causes.
- • The next question maps to the test or observation that would separate them.
Driving question: When your team pins all four evidence streams to one board and draws the links between them, does the case actually converge on one , or do the arrows reveal a conflict or a gap you had not noticed?
What you already know: You weight each evidence stream by how it was collected, because a controlled test with an unbroken earns more trust than an uncontrolled or interested account, and your report is only as strong as that weighting.
New idea: An evidence board makes an investigation's logic visible so that converging evidence and dangerous gaps both stand out, because a conclusion is only as strong as the gap it cannot yet explain.
Visual or model: F1. F1. A lesson illustration or teaching diagram for Build the evidence board. Use it with E1-E3; it is a model or context image, not experimental or patient data. What to notice: Trace the labeled observation or evidence sequence before choosing an explanation.
- Observe or measure the relevant feature in build the evidence board.
- Organize the observation with a stable evidence ID.
- Apply this rule: Keep observations separate from explanations, then collect the evidence that can distinguish the options.
- Choose the option the evidence supports and state the limit of the conclusion.
Real biomedical example: When your team pins all four evidence streams to one board and draws the links between them, does the case actually converge on one , or do the arrows reveal a conflict or a gap you had not noticed?
What the evidence supports: E1-E3 and F1 support the daily take-home when the response meets the stated success criteria.
What it cannot prove: The package does not support claims beyond this lesson's or any real patient diagnosis.
- • synthesis: Building a molecule in the cell, as in synthesis (making a protein from mRNA).
- • : A formal written document presenting the evidence, methods, and conclusions of a scientific investigation, often used to support legal cases.
- • limitation: A weakness or boundary of a study, design, or method that restricts how far its results can be trusted or applied.
- • reliability: The degree to which a measurement, method, or person produces the same dependable result each time under the same conditions.
- • : Evidence given in court by a qualified specialist who explains technical findings, such as DNA or results, to help the jury understand.
- • conclusion: The closing part of an investigation where you state whether the evidence supported your hypothesis and explain what the results mean.
Use it now: Choose one decision option. Cite E1 and E3, then explain how the rule connects the evidence to your choice.
Go further, optional: The source links below are optional enrichment. Every fact required for today's local evidence decision appears in this lesson package.
Biomedical evidence supports a conclusion only to the level allowed by the measurement, comparison, controls, source quality, and uncertainty in the investigation.
Limit: The classroom evidence supports the stated learning decision, not a real clinical diagnosis, causal conclusion, or treatment recommendation.
Keep observations separate from explanations, then collect the evidence that can distinguish the options.
Limit: Biomedical investigations use controlled procedures and validated measurements, not intuition alone.
You can build an evidence board that links streams.
Limit: E3 defines the classroom product or success criterion. It is not independent scientific evidence and cannot justify a clinical or causal claim.
PLTW-PBT-2026-10-06 · Simulated classroom evidence scenario
Your role: biomedical investigator
Decision: Your team must decide what the evidence from build the evidence board supports before submitting the notebook record named on today's page.
- • Pin only what links, and mark every gap and conflict on the board so the weak spots are visible to everyone.
- • Post everything our team collected onto the board, because the more evidence we can show up there, the stronger our case looks.
- • Leave the conclusion off the board today, because the arrows still show a gap between two streams that nothing explains.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Submit it as the notebook record.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about build the evidence board. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Reason for review: Your team must decide what the evidence from build the evidence board supports before submitting the notebook record named on today's page.
Context: Laying an investigation out visually exposes both where independent evidence converges and where the gaps are, because a claim is only as strong as the holes it cannot fill.
- • T1: As a team, post each evidence item to the board by stream.
- • T2: Draw links showing which items support each other and which items disagree.
- • T3: Flag gaps where evidence is missing or weak.
- • T4: Draft a tentative cause-of-death claim the board supports.
- • T5: Note each stream's limitations beside its evidence cluster.
- • E1: Biomedical evidence supports a conclusion only to the level allowed by the measurement, comparison, controls, source quality, and uncertainty in the investigation.
- • E2: Keep observations separate from explanations, then collect the evidence that can distinguish the options.
- • E3: You can build an evidence board that links streams.
Measurements: No patient measurement is supplied unless it appears explicitly in E1-E3 or F1. Do not invent a value.
Figure finding: Teaching diagram for Build the evidence board. Trace the labeled observation or evidence sequence before choosing an explanation. This is a teaching model, not patient or experimental data.
Uncertainty: This is a composite classroom scenario. Missing history, measurements, or confirmation tests remain unknown and limit the conclusion.
Students often think Students often think the goal of the evidence board is to display everything they found, so more items pinned up feels like a stronger case.. The trap: That is a trap, because a board full of items with an unexplained gap between them is weaker than a smaller set that links cleanly; documenting where evidence is missing or conflicts is as important as showing what is present, since an unaddressed gap can collapse the whole conclusion.
Evidence board entry (Andre, Period 4):
Tentative claim: The most likely cause of death is poisoning by a toxic substance.
Most convincing corroborating link: The lab toxicology data and the autopsy histology both point to the same organ damage, and these are two independent streams agreeing.
Conflict noted: The suspect interview suggested a different timeline than the scene photos, which we flagged to reconcile.
Gap we could not fill: We have no confirmed source for the toxic substance, so the claim stays tentative until that gap is addressed.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: An individual notebook entry describing the team's evidence board, the tentative cause-of-death claim, the most convincing corroborating link, and one gap the team could not fill.
- Date and label the entry.
- Record the procedure, observation, or design decision clearly.
- End with what the evidence means and the next step.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Upload the evidence board photo and your notebook entry to the tracker before leaving.
- CER:
- Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: make a claim, back it with evidence, explain your reasoning.
- SOP:
- Standard Operating Procedure, the exact steps to follow (especially in a lab).
- Tracker:
- Your PLTW progress log where you record completed evidence.
- myPLTW:
- The PLTW course site where you do the online activities. Find it in Clever with your Microsoft sign-in, right next to Schoology.
Tap the speaker to hear a term. Add two of these to your notebook glossary with a definition and an example in your own words.
Pick just 2 or 3 words from today and make them yours: write what each one means in your own words, name the context clue or evidence that helped, then give one example from what you actually did in Build the evidence board. Try your own words first; the glossary is there if you get stuck. This is voluntary and counts as extra credit, so keep it short.
Saved on this device. Show Mr. Mendoza or add these to your notebook glossary to claim the extra credit.
Hand-picked readings and interactives for this lesson, from authoritative open organizations and PLTW's own public course outline.
Practice: try a question, then check your answer▸
Claim ceiling for this check: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about build the evidence board. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Your board shows scene, lab, and autopsy all pointing to the same cause of death, but there is no toxicology result posted at all. Is your tentative claim ready to treat as final? Explain what the empty toxicology space means.
Write an answer and pick a confidence to unlock the key.
Fast retrieval with instant answers, not the commit-then-reveal check above. Try each from memory first: write what you remember about the earlier units, then check yourself here.
Missed class or ready for more?▸
What today's skills lead to. These are real health-science careers this course builds toward. Tap one to see, on the US Department of Labor's O*NET site, what the job actually involves, what it pays, and how fast it is growing.
With your team, build a shared digital evidence board mapping scene, lab, suspect, and evidence to a tentative conclusion, marking gaps and limitations.
NN/g: Card SortingUpload the evidence board photo and your notebook entry to the tracker before leaving.
Class still runs. Complete the online activity above (it's self-guided). Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
Khan Academy Biology Library- CompleteEvery required part of the artifact is present, nothing left blank.
- AccurateThe science and the data are correct and match the evidence.
- Scientific reasoningYou explain your claim with evidence and reasoning (CER), not just an answer.
- Professional communicationClear, organized, labeled, and written the way a clinician or scientist would.
- SubmittedGo to Schoology to turn this in. Submit one PDF. Put your first and last name in the document header. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf. If you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
This week
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