OC Register CSI Article

CSI Esperanza: Can the kids figure it out?

May 12, 2010|By JESSICA TERRELL

ANAHEIM HILLS — Yellow caution tape covers the windows of Room H-9, alerting passersby of the crime scene inside, where investigators are stepping carefully around the blood-stained figure on the floor, gathering precious DNA evidence.

In the back of the roped-off room, a crowd gathers to watch police restrain a wailing teenager from breaking past the police line and compromising the crime scene.

As the girl struggles with the officer, she accidentally rips the yellow paper badge taped to his chest, and a dozen teens start laughing.

The crime scene is an elaborate set-up, part of an integrated lesson for students in the Medical Sciences Academy at Esperanza High School.

Students in the academy – in its second year at Esperanza – select specialized pathways, and get hands-on experience toward chosen careers.

Teachers are expected to put together at least two lessons each year that combine the languages arts and medical sciences. This year, they decided to create a CSI-style whodunit.

Over the course of a week or so, students will gather evidence at an elaborately set-up crime scene, interview witnesses and family, try a case, and return a verdict.

Each student has a role to play, from the creepy coworker to the grieving mother, from the police officer to the judge, and none of them know who really murdered fictional student Susie Campbell.

"We tried to make everything applicable to the kids," Language Arts Teacher Frank Perez said. "She's a Fullerton College student, and her boyfriend was at a Lakers game."

Perez and Easton crafted the storyline and built the crime scene to be complex, filled with both clues and misdirection.

The boyfriend picked up Campbell's body – a lifelike dummy used in medical classes – and was covered in her blood. Does that mean he did it? What about the creepy coworker who may be stalking her? And then there's the nearly-empty bottle of pain pills that was filled just a few days before.

Easton has about 130 students, with five classes competing against each other to solve the crime. Special guest speakers were brought in last week to give the students tips, including CSI from the Brea Police Department.

Not all students in the academy will end up pursuing medical careers, but the ones who do can earn college credits and be able to bypass waitlists and get straight into college classes, Medical Sciences Teacher Valerie Easton said.

Many public colleges in California have a long waitlist to get into nursing programs. Students in the academy who don't end up in the medical field are still learning valuable skills, like critical thinking, Easton said.

The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, like others in Orange County, has a number of academies, including Digital Media Arts, Engineering and Manufacturing and Building Industry Technology. The district is also in the process of starting a culinary arts academy.

It's nearly the end of the school year, when student motivation begins to lag and seniors often blow off classes, but Easton as been getting 100 percent attendance in her classes.

Teachers hope the murder mystery will spread some good word-of-mouth about the academy and will inspire more students to sign up in the fall.

It seems to be working.

"It's probably the top project I've done in high school," Senior Kyle Hollis said. "I wish they had this class when I was a freshman."

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