There was a bona fide “who dunnit” at Pine Tree Hill Elementary School on Tuesday.
The celebrity suspects included Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, Simon Cowell and Tiger Woods.
Their alleged offenses ranged from stealing test answers to overfeeding the classroom fish.
Morgan Sharp, left, and Katelyn Stevens, right, 5th grade students at Pine Tree Hill Elementary School in Camden, learned aspects of forensic science. Here, they try to match a fingerprint to determine who committed the mock crime. Patty Stegura, a science educator who created the CSI investigation experiment to help students have a passion for science, taught them.
- TIM DOMINICK /tdominick@thestate.com
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“I blame Kelly Clarkson,” Nasin Briggs stated emphatically as he and some fellow detectives compared two sets of fingerprints.
“They were both a loop,” Nasin added, referring to a specific class of fingerprint.
And, indeed, the evidence confirmed that the pop star was guilty of breaking into the candy store.
The imaginary scenarios were largely light-hearted, but the students were all business as they explored the world of forensic science with some hands-on lessons in crime scene investigations.
In recent weeks, fifth-graders at the Kershaw County school have been taking part in an interactive science unit that explores such things as fingerprinting, DNA samples, blood types and hair samples while teaching how crime scene evidence is gathered and evaluated. Students also got the chance to take and identify their own unique fingerprints.
The exercises were led by Patty Stegura, whose Stegura Science program brings the world of forensic science to the classroom.
Nicole Ritchie, who runs Pinetree Hill’s science lab, said the exercises were intended to reinforce skills taught in the classroom while exposing students to the more practical uses of such skills.
“Student engagement increases when students feel ownership over their work,” Ritchie said. “They’re using all the skills they have all year, and they don’t even know it.”
The students, in fact, were equally as attentive to the “crimes” as to the concepts as they acted out various scenarios that included viewing crime scene photos and seeing how much information they could recall.
As part of another exercise, students had to extract evidence from various “crime” settings in a dark room using only black lights.
“I’m starting to consider (one day becoming an investigator) because it’s very fun,” student Chris Anderson said.
After investigating several “mini-crimes,” the students worked together to solve one major investigation. Those who did so successfully were awarded badges.
Pine Tree Hill principal Lisa Shannon said the unit generated a lot of excitement among students. “It’s exploded,” Shannon said. “It’s that big of a deal for them.”
And with one chapter of crime solving behind them, students already are looking forward to the sequel, Ritchie said.
“It’s actually wonderful because our fourth-graders haven’t stopped talking about passing into the fifth grade so they can do this.”
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