Whodunnit at Glen Cove Library?

The Glen Cove Library held a STEAM-based program that had participants learning about solving crimes as well as analyzing fingerprints, codes, and measurements.

The participants were asked to discover who might have stolen a valuable statue from the library. Each participating child received a detective starter kit and viewed various suspect profiles at stations around the library. Teen Advisory Board volunteers (6th-12 graders), who earned service hours for the program, helped to plan it. They created video, evidence for various stations, and other items. The teens were also in charge of each station.

Three Stations:

1. Fingerprint Station: Kids used stamp pads to take their own fingerprints, and learned to analyze and identify their fingerprints. They also had to identify the shape of the suspect’s fingerprint on statue.
2. Message Decoding: Kids found a message found in art history book, implicating suspect, but had to first decode it. They learned about ciphers and used decoding markers.
3. Footprint Conversion: Kids measured a footprint found at the scene of the crime and converted the measurement to show a possible height.

Once the kids were done at each of the stations, they were able to create a suspect profile and then discover who took the statue.

–Lauren Loechner, Glen Cove Public Library