Critical Thinking Mystery: Secret Recipe

In this PDF downloadable and printable mystery activity that encourages discussion and critical thinking, the daughter of the owner of a famous hot chocolate company is found murdered. Who killed her? Her father who wanted her to take over the business? The owner of a rival company? The guard who squealed on her?
Your students have to solve the murder mystery by reading short clues, one at a time. As they receive each clue, they speculate on its significance, what it tells them about the situation, and how it fits with the previous clues. While doing that, they are practicing key critical thinking skills such as:

• looking for details
• synthesizing information from different sources
• applying prior knowledge about the world
• sorting fact from opinion and truth from lie
• recognizing the logic of a claim and evaluating its validity.

Once they have received all the clues, they have enough information to figure it out! This one will definitely get your students talking!

Inside find:

• Teacher Notes on how to use the clues, including suggested warm-ups.
• 15 clues to be given to students one by one.
• Hints in the form of guiding questions to help students figure out what happened.
• The Solution: Students are not left hanging. There is a clear solution that follows from the clues.
• Extension Questions (optional) to extend the activity about companies who advertise secret recipes.

It also works well as a warm-up, critical thinking game, conversation starter, filler, or a time killer for early finishers. And the hot chocolate theme means it can fit well into a holiday lesson or unit! 

This is a printable PDF edition designed to be used in the classroom in small groups, works great for kids age 12-17, although adults and younger kids may enjoy it too!