Solving Anna’s murder
September 26, 2017
Biomedical Science is a unique class this year in the new program called Project Lead The Way (PTLW). It is an opportunity for students to look deeper into forensic work and analyzing human anatomy.
Project Lead The Way is an example of a class that a student can take from and use in their adult life. Students in the class are looking into to be a nurse, a neurologist, or anything in the medical field. The class is nation-wide to give students a better idea of a career in the STEM field.
“Project Lead The Way is a nonprofit organization that provides a transformative learning experience for K-12 students and teachers across the U.S. The key mission is to provide real-world experiences in a classroom environment that will be useful for students interested in the industry that each class addresses,” said PLTW teacher, Daniel Strang,
The whole idea of having a class like PLTW is quite recent. The preparation to have a biomedical class to benefit students started last year with the teachers working with the project are confident that it will benefit students and their future.
“The Biomedical courses of PLTW have been in the works since early in the 2016-2017 year, with 2017-2018 being the first year the courses are offered. PLTW is a very useful and relevant class for any students who are interested in the biomedical industry. This class will provide a real opportunity for students who want real, hands-on experiences similar to what those in the medical field have every day,” said Strang.
The class consists of students who already have a good idea of what they desire to study or the occupation they want to pursue in the medical and science field. They sign up for PLTW or Bio Medical Science to give them a realistic perspective of what tasks they complete in the careers they want to be apart of.
“I thought it would help me better my chances in college getting into medical school since I want to be in neurology. Definitely been a lot of hands on stuff, learning about, not necessarily medical stuff, but crime scene things. Overall its helped me better understand in all science lab related things.” said junior, Drew Fulk.
Currently the class is busy trying to find the criminal guilty of a “murder” that had happened in their class. This is their first unit called “Anna’s Death,” The students in the course are trying to solve the murder with hands on projects, while the two PLTW teachers are the ones to create the scene.
“Anna is a mannequin, so we have to set her up in a very specific way to correlate with the curriculum that is dictated by PLTW. This means setting up her “body”, the evidence surrounding her, and making sure that everything is set up in a way that will provide students a path to uncover the mystery surrounding her death,” said Strang.
The class is finishing up their crime scene unit, and closing in on the culprit. They have been working on the unit for three weeks now and they have gone through finding the body to figuring out whose blood was on the scene of the crime.
“When we first came into class there was a body on the floor, it’s obviously fake and there were certain points you had to write down. We had to write down what we see, and what this could lead to. We are doing certain projects that identify thumbprints, fingerprints, and blood.” said sophomore, Paeton Woods.
There are multiple steps to attempting to solve a murder, and the students in PLTW are going through every step. Again, the class is trying to be as close as possible to being on a real work field, so the class is paying attention to every detail a crime scene investigator would look for.
“We have learn how to take fingerprints and how to read fingerprints. We learned how to investigate crime scenes and we also have tested chemicals relating to the crime scene to see what they are,” said Fulk.
Despite the seriousness of a crime scene and murder, the students are enjoying and having fun in group work and working with their peers.
“I really like working with other classmate and friends, it is always fun to work in a group and trying to solve the murder,” said Fulk.
Not only have the students been appreciating their time in the class and the project they are conquering, but Strang has been thoroughly enjoying his time teaching the course.
“It has been a blast so far. The class has been super fun to teach and the students are really enjoying the experience as well,” said Strang.
The class is finishing up their crime scene unit and the class is going as planned, they will soon be moving onto a heart disease unit. The entire course, Project Lead The Way, is educating students about the medical and forensic fields that they are interested to pursue for their future. The students are getting the experience they signed up for, the teachers are watching their classes grow as biomedical researchers, and the school has a new addition to class courses that students in the future can get into and learn.
