Full disclosure–NSTA got me hooked on the CSI programs. Ordinarily I would have ignored them, but when I heard that these shows excite students about science, I had to see at least one episode. Eventually I was watching all of them regularly. (I have weaned myself off of CSI on Thursdays, but not the New York and Miami ones.)

So when given a chance to attend a session called “The Dead T-Shirt Contest” that promised to enlighten us about teaching forensic science, I had to go there, of course. Presenters Michael Lazaroff and David Rollison of Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut, have created a unit in which students serve as both “murder victims” and pathologists.
Since they can’t bring dead bodies to class, they provide students with t-shirts marked with various “wounds,” such as bite marks…

bruises, and bullet and puncture wounds. (Doesn’t the teacher on the right look like a real murder victim with her eyes closed?)


Groups of teachers then became students who had to examine the evidence and determine COD (that’s cause of death for all you non-CSI viewers). As teachers debated which injuries might have caused the fatality, Michael offered teaching tips, such as not allowing students to list COD as “undetermined” unless they can justify it … giving each group of students a different COD to prevent cheating…and when students are reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, making sure they place their hands over their hearts, not their lungs.

Handouts contained diagrams like these that teachers can use in the classroom.
Michael concludes his forensic science unit by dressing a mannequin (a discard from a local department store) in a white t-shirt and white pants, all marked with wounds. He asks students to solve the crime. Next, they take part in a courtroom trial and present the evidence, with half the class serving as prosecutors and the other half as defense attorneys.
Well, I’ve had my CSI fix for today, so on to other sessions!