Project 1.5 — five patients walk into the clinic. You get their vital signs and physical exam. The case notes are blank. You ask the questions, you find the clues, you name the invader.
7 days · Plan the interview, interview your patient, narrow nine suspects, order the lab test,
justify and treat, then present the case.
Tap any glowing word for the meaning in English and Spanish.
In Activity 1.4 the physician found the answer with clues from three places. Name them from memory. Which one gave the most clues?
The twist this week: your patient's case notes are empty. Nobody asked the questions yet. You are the one who asks.
This is the whole project on one card. Tap a step when your team finishes it — the card remembers.
Partners. Two detectives per patient. Both interview, both write, both sign the diagnosis.
| Criteria | Basic | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interview questionsWorksheet 2 | Questions are unclear, and they do not collect enough to solve the case. | Questions are clear, but they still miss information the case needs. | Questions are clear and planned to collect everything the case needs. |
| Case notesWorksheet 3 | Notes describe only some of the evidence, and only partly. | Notes describe some of the evidence completely. | Notes describe all of the medical evidence, clearly. |
| Diagnosis with evidenceWorksheets 4–5 | Diagnosis does not match the notes; little evidence. | Diagnosis mostly matches the notes; a few pieces of evidence. | Diagnosis clearly matches the notes; many pieces of evidence support it. |
Aim for the green column. Every worksheet this week is built to get you there.
Real medical teams agree on rules before the patient arrives. Talk with your partner and tap the three rules you promise each other this week.
Write your three on Worksheet 1 — Meet Your Patient, Part A. On Day 6 the whole class will vote on its top five team norms.
On Worksheet 1 — Meet Your Patient: circle each vital sign as normal, too high, or too low for your patient's age, list the exam clues, and then the important part:
Detective's rule: a good detective writes down what they do NOT know. That list becomes tomorrow's questions.
No lab yet. No dictionary yet. Just you, a clipboard, and the questions you plan tonight in your head.
Exit: tell your partner ONE thing you must ask your patient tomorrow.
From memory, no worksheet: your patient's age, ONE vital sign that was off, ONE exam clue — and the biggest thing the file does not tell you.
Today you turn "we don't know" into questions.
Symptom questions ask what the body is doing. Behavior questions ask what the patient did, ate, drank, and where they went — the exposure. Sort each one, then check.
Three rules: an open question beats a yes/no question · ask one thing at a time · always follow up with "how long?" and "where exactly?"
On Worksheet 2 — Plan the Interview, PLTW's interview template gives you the first questions. Copy the ones you need, then write three of your own for YOUR patient.
"We will ask ______ because the file shows ______."
Partner A is the patient — read the card, answer only what is asked. Partner B is the detective — ask from Worksheet 2 and write every answer. Then swap.
Detective: did your list get the sister? The sudden start? If not — what question was missing?
Pick the ONE question on your list that will do the most work tomorrow.
"The best question we wrote is ______ because it will tell us ______."
Hand it in with Worksheet 2.
The patient only answers what you ask. Nothing is volunteered. No question, no clue.
A patient actor sits at each station with the patient's answer card. Detective pairs go to their own patient only. Two rounds: ask everything on your list, huddle, then go back for what you missed.
Actors: read your card, answer only what is asked, stay in character. Actor cards are in the teacher packet. If the room is small, the teacher can play all five patients, one station at a time.
Go to your patient's station. Ask every question on Worksheet 2 — Plan the Interview. Record each answer on Worksheet 3 — Interview & Case Notes, Part A.
Start the clock (top right). When it runs out, come back to your seat even if you are not done — round 2 is for that.
Read your answers together. What did you learn? What is still missing? Which answer needs a follow-up — "how long?", "who else?", "what exactly did you drink?"
Before round 2, write your follow-up questions in the Round 2 table at the bottom of Worksheet 3, page 1.
Back to your patient. Ask the follow-ups. Detectives who ask "anything else you remember?" often get the clue that solves the case.
Start the clock. Thank your patient when you leave.
Rewrite the answers as short, clear sentences a different doctor could read — what · since when · what else · who else · where · food and drink. Tap each example for the model.
On Worksheet 3 — Interview & Case Notes, Part B, write your patient's case notes in organized sentences. Use the frames — every box is a clue the rubric wants.
Exit ticket: "The clue that surprised us was ______."
Tomorrow the Disease Dictionary comes out and the suspect board goes up. Bring your case notes — every NO you wrote is a suspect you can cross off.
Hand in Worksheet 3 with your exit ticket.
No notes. Tell your partner the three clues from the interview that you think matter most — and ONE thing your patient does not have.
Then open your case notes and check. Did memory keep the right ones?
Your case notes vs. the Symptoms of Disease column. The NO's are as powerful as the yeses.
Count from the contact (trip, sick friend, bite, bad water) to the first symptoms.
Transmission column: person-to-person, food or water, or a vector — a tick or mosquito bite.
The lab can test for nine of the dictionary's sixteen suspects: Campylobacter, Cholera, E. coli, Lyme disease, Measles, Rotavirus, Salmonellosis, Strep/Scarlet fever, Zika. Those nine are on the board.
| Suspect | 1 · Symptoms match? | 2 · Incubation fits? | 3 · Spread fits? | ✔ total |
|---|
On Worksheet 4 — Narrow the Suspects, fill the board for your patient, then write the diagnosis the way a detective does:
Hand Worksheet 4 to the teacher with your diagnosis circled. Tomorrow the lab opens: you order the test for that agent, and your teacher hands you the result strip to read, with controls.
If the result comes back negative, you go back to the clues. That is not failing — that is diagnosing.
Say them to your partner. Then the lab opens.
Order one test at a time ($80 each). Your teacher hands you the result strip. 🖨 Result strips (teacher)
Tests ordered: 0 · Lab bill: $0
The green column wants many pieces of evidence — three kinds. Worksheet 5 — Results & Treatment, Part B:
Lab said negative? Record it, name the clue that sends you to a new suspect, and order again.
Use the Treatment column and what you know about agents: antibiotics kill bacteria; they do nothing to a virus. Some of the dictionary's treatment boxes are blank — that is your job.
PLTW asks two questions. Answer both honestly:
"We guessed" is not a way to solve it. "We went back and asked the patient" is.
Say it to them, out loud, specifically. "When you ______, it helped because ______."
Then swap.
Discuss all three with your partner. Then write your own answers on Worksheet 6 — Team Norms & Real Life, Part A. No names, no blame — behaviors, not people.
Turn your reflection into rules for working in a team. A rule starts with "We will…" and describes something you can see or hear.
Worksheet 6 Part A, bottom. Be ready to say your best rule to the class.
Share your rules; the teacher adds new ones. Hands up to vote, teacher tallies. The five with the most votes are our team norms for every group project from now on.
In this project you asked the questions. In real life you are the patient — and the best patients speak up, ask questions, and raise concerns. That is self-advocacy. A personal health journal makes it easy:
On Worksheet 6 — Team Norms & Real Life, Part B: start your journal with what you know today, and write three questions you would ask at your next check-up.
Tomorrow each pair reports its case to the class in about a minute. Practice the frame with your partner now — each of you says half.
Exit ticket: write your half of the frame on the back of Worksheet 6.
Two minutes per pair, patients 1 through 5 in order. The audience listens with Worksheet 7 — Case Reports & Reflection, Part A: for every report, write the diagnosis and ONE clue that supported it.
Audience rule: eyes on the presenters, pencil on the grid. Clap at the end, not the middle.
Reports are coming in from the town of Montgomery Hills: many residents are getting sick, and nobody knows why yet. Local doctors are asking for help.
One patient was a case. A whole town is an outbreak. Talk with your partner: how would you use the skills from this lesson to figure out what is making everyone sick?
Worksheet 7 Part B. This question comes back in Lesson 2 — keep your answer.
What would you tell your patient about the disease agent that caused the illness — and how they could have prevented it?
Claim, evidence, reasoning — and no scary words. The patient deserves to understand.
Measure vital signs. Design a fair test. Tell bacteria from viruses. Read a lab result with controls. Interview a patient, build a case file, and name the invader. In August you could do none of that.
Next: Lesson 2 — the outbreak in Montgomery Hills.
Every academic word in Medical Detectives so far. Tap one for the full card.
Click any slide to jump there.