When Students Go After Real Problems

When Alex Campbell set out to teach sociology through true crime, he wasn't trying to catch a murderer. He was trying to make the stakes real. Nine years later, his high school students in Appalachia have restored names to victims of the "redheaded murders," helped families, and become the subject of a limited series with a perfect critic score. But as Alex tells it, the thing that mattered most was never on the syllabus: how much his students came to care.

In this conversation, Alex and Tricia dig into what it actually takes to hand young people a real problem — and why that's the whole point.

In this episode:

• Why sociology and murder aren't apples and oranges — and how high stakes bring out the best in students
• The surprise Alex didn't plan for: students connecting with victims who died decades before they were born
• Schools as "the institution best at separating people" — and how project-based learning breaks down the walls
• His three-part test for a real project: passion-driven, community-focused, interdisciplinary
• Practical, permission-giving advice for teachers who find this exciting and scary — start small, start with a partner, use the resources that already exist
• "You don't work for me": how buy-in reframes classroom management and reaches the students who've stopped believing in school's promises
• Civics you can feel — freedom-of-information requests, and why John Benet Ramsey has a thousand websites and Lori Pennell had almost none
• The creative gamble behind the series: victim-forward, not offender-forward, and a true-crime story that doesn't end tied up in a bow
• Portraying Appalachia and teenagers with authenticity instead of stereotype
• Using the series for professional development — what to watch for, and why it might matter more than you'd expect
• Building a house, powerlifting, and teaching yourself: Alex on learning as a lifelong series of real problems to solve

Watch: Murder 101 is streaming now.