House and Holmes: A Guide to Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

This lesson plan uses Dr. House from the television show House and Sherlock Holmes to model how each character uses inductive and deductive reasoning. Students identify inductive and deductive reasoning, complete logic puzzles, and solve a five minute mystery. This resource contains all handouts; the links to videos include a You Tube video. The court scene video link posted does not work, but the lesson is still usable, especially if the teacher finds the court scene from another website. This lesson plan can be used to teach inductive and deductive reasoning alone or as part of a larger logic unit. It encourages analytical thinking and incorporates the use of media.

Weblink address (URL):

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives:

In this lesson students will learn to:

Distinguish between deductive and inductive arguments.
Construct and analyze deductive arguments.
Produce and evaluate inductive arguments.

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level:

Applying

Helpful Hints

Materials:

“A Few Good Men,” Courtroom Scene.
Teacher Handout #1, “Teacher’s Guide to the Courtroom Scene.”
“House, M.D.” Clinic Scenes.
Teacher Handout #2, “Teacher’s Guide to the Clinic Scenes from House, M.D.”
Student Handout #1, “Neighborhood Watch.”
Teacher Handout #3, “Teacher’s Guide to the Neighborhood Watch Exercise.”
Student Handout #2, Salon 5-Minute Mystery, “Where There’s a Will.”
Student Handout #3, Salon 5-Minute Mystery, “The Menagerie Murder.”
Student Handout #4, Salon 5-Minute Mystery, “The Fragment of Serpentine Marble.”
Teacher Handout #4, Solution to 5-Minute Mysteries.

References

Contributors:

Julie Lewis

Originator:

Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation