Sumter teacher creates crime-scene lesson

It started with an email threatening the school’s mascot if the faculty and staff basketball game was not canceled.

So Alice Drive Middle School Principal Rick Avins moved the school’s hawk from the front display case to a secure location, but then it disappeared. Michelle Snyder, math teacher, called in Detective Johanna Aleck of the Sumter Police Department.

“It’s about taking what they’ve been learning in the classroom and applying it to real life,” Aleck said.

The crime-scene investigation lesson taught by Snyder went on for more than a week as students take over the investigation of “The Case of the Missing Mascot.” About 100 students participated from her five sixth- and seventh-grade classes, Snyder said. Snyder said it is important that when students see crime shows, they realize what education is required.

“They’ll use math skills graphing fingerprints, English language arts writing reports, science analyzing what was left at the crime scene and social studies in our discussion of the criminal justice system,” she said.

After Aleck introduced herself, she and Snyder took the students down to the teachers’ lounge to see the marked-off crime scene. Aleck walked the children through how she’d approach the scene and document her evidence. She also answered questions about the clues.

Afterward, they returned to the classroom for a brief history on fingerprinting and lessons in taking fingerprints, which was new information to Brandon Heaton.

“She showed us what different ones (fingerprints) look like,” the sixth-grader said. “It was really cool learning detective stuff like about fingerprint cards and how to collect evidence.”

He’s a fan of “NCIS,” and so is his classmate Alex Dollar. She thinks it’s fun to do crime-scene work. “I like looking at stuff deeply,” Dollar said.

This story was originally published June 5, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Sumter teacher creates crime-scene lesson."