Mediaboss Marketing

BILLY JEAN LOUIS , blouis@baxterbulletin.com 6:34 p.m. CT March 15, 2017

Mandy Pender, trauma program manager for Baxter Regional Medical Center, explains brain functions to Pinkston Middle School students at the Baxter County Fairgrounds on Wednesday during the school districts crime scene investigation event. The district has been hosting the event for about eight years.(Photo: JOSH DOOLEY/THE BAXTER BULLETIN)Buy Photo

Pinkston Middle School students paid close attention and took notes while stopping at multiple tables in the education building: The goal was to decode a fake crime scene involving their principal.

No one was hurt the students weretrying to find out if it was a crime or an accident.

Hosted at the Baxter County Fairgrounds on Wednesday, the annual crime scene investigation (CSI) program an event based on the popular TV show CSI taught students about heart rate, fingerprints, blood types and more, while incorporating science, math and health.

The offsite learning event, which has been around for about eight years, is an integrated project between Pinkston and Mountain Home High School, giving 320 sixth-graders an opportunity to learn from approximately 160 high school students.

The students spent about eight minutes at each table before they moved on to the next one.

Each student received clues from the tables they visited, so they couldmake an inference on what happened to principal Allyson Dewey.In addition to getting clues, students were given lessons on how to use the materials they learned to solve the crime.

For example, Reagan Prince and Maegann Ingle, both 16, were stationed at table 12 to teach parts of the human brain. The girls used a sheep's brain, saying that it is similar to the humans brain, except for the size.

Baxter Regional Medical Center and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences also contributed in teaching about the human brain. They provided a mega brain, helping them understand what the different parts do.

At table 12, the students learned about the dark spots of the brain, or gray matter: They had to wear goggles, and if they wanted to touch the organ, they put on gloves. The presenters at table 10 helped students recognize the types of blood and table 19 focused on the human skeleton.

According to a handout, Dewey was knocked out unconscious at the Baxter County Fairgrounds while looking for a room to hold an ACT Aspire party for sixth-grade students. When she woke up, she didn't know what happened. The handoutstated that she walked into a "dark room" and looked for"a light switch."

Jacob Czanstkowski, 12, said the event is interesting.He said he learned about fingerprints, blood types and how to match a victim with the suspect.

You learn a lot of new stuff, he said.

Pinkston Middle School students use straws to blow cotton balls across a table Wednesday at the Baxter County Fairgrounds to learn about lung function during the school districts crime scene investigation event. The students learned to solve a crime scene.(Photo: JOSH DOOLEY/THE BAXTER BULLETIN)

He said its "a little confusing" because hes not provided a lot of time at the station, but its a lot of fun. Its better than school. The sixth-grader said hes interested in computer science and health: Math is his favorite subject.

Czanstkowski said he learned about the brain and how to take a pulse.

Abby Melton, 11, said she learned aboutfingerprints. The sixth-gradersaid she's interested in becoming a counselor, but she would consider being an investigator because its cool to investigate.

Carol Wegerer, teacher and head of CSI, said the students do all the work. School officials are onlythere to guide them.

Its a great project. I love to see how our kids get involve with the sixth-graders. But whats really amazing is that the teachers really do just step back and watch, she said. Our kids make it happen.

At about 1:45 p.m., the students were told who committed the crime. It was a delivery man who was declined a teaching position at the middle school.According to Wegerer, the man put a box somewhere that Dewey could trip on it.

Read or Share this story: http://www.baxterbulletin.com/story/news/local/2017/03/15/csi-event-teaches-students-how-solve-crimes/99225172/

Link:
CSI event teaches students how to solve crimes - Baxter Bulletin