New Forensic Science Class—

Summer Continuing Ed Programs Still Open

By Eliza Hallabeck

Spaces are still available in Laurie Borst and Karen Pierce’s Crime Scene Investigators, Newtown, CT class, and other Continuing Education programs, including SMART courses, being offered this summer.

This is the first time the forensics course is being offered through the Continuing Education summer program.

“I’m a science geek,” said Ms Borst. “All of this stuff is just so exciting, and with all the interest, I don’t think there is a day where CSI isn’t on TV. There is so much interest now.”

For students exiting grades five through eight, there will be two nine-day sessions at Reed Intermediate School from 9 am until 12:30 pm.

“We’ll do qualitative analysis, which is chemistry,” Ms Borst said. “They will be exploring powders in the lab.”

Every hands-on activity, Ms Borst said, will be using prepared kits to simulate situations associated with forensic analysis.

“There’s no blood, there’s no bodily fluids, nothing that is potentially harmful,” said Ms Borst. “There are a lot of things that are done with simple vinegar and baking goods you would find around the house.”

Powders, like baking soda and flower, she said, will be used to simulate looking for drugs. Other activities in the works for the course could include a visit from a local search and rescue dog.

If a search dog can be scheduled to visit the course, Ms Borst said the class will explore human senses compared to a dog’s senses.

“We’ll do things with optical illusions, Magic Eye,” said Ms Borst, listing more activities the class will look into. Further discussing some of the things students will learn in the course, Ms Borst said a nonharmful piece of paper is used to find supertasters, people who can taste in a greater degree compared to others.

“They will explore chromatography, from as simple as coffee filters with a marker drawn on it and water added to see how ink separates, to getting chromatography paper and acetone and do chromatography with lipstick,” she said. “They will explore fiber identification.”

Day one, lab rules will be explained to the students, Ms Borst said, to ensure safety rules are followed at all times.

Lip prints, finger prints, hair identification, shoe prints, and more are scheduled to be taught to students in the course.

“We will talk about analyzing and typing blood,” said Ms Borst, “and I will demo gel-electric forensics for the kids.”

Through the demonstration students will learn how DNA is used by forensic specialists and police to identify people. Documenting a crime scene will also be taught during the class.

Crime Scene Analysis

Two days in the course will be used for having the students apply what they learned by working with a prepared “crime” scene, which will be staged and centered around the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library’s annual used book sale.

Ms Borst said the staged crime scene could use the scenario of a rare book being stolen, and the culprit will have left behind clues the students will learn to follow and document.

“I think they will be kept very busy, and very entertained,” said Ms Borst.

There are so many areas of forensics that could be looked at, and Ms Borst said, the class was designed by herself and Ms Pierce to give students a general knowledge of forensic science. Students will also fill out science journals throughout the nine-day course, and will receive items for them to take home and share with their parents.

“I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time,” said Ms Borst.

She is also hoping the course will lead to more classes being offered in the future.

Ms Pierce has 30 years of experience teaching, and Ms Borst said she has taught every age group from 3 to 63. She has taught fifth through eighth grade science at a private school, summer school, adult education and has degrees in environmental science, biology, education, and a master’s degree in science education.

“I would think that fingerprinting, blood typing, and all those things would be interesting,” said Continuing Education Director Elissa Gellis.

Ms Gellis said other courses being offered during the summer are still open, including a physical education course for Newtown High School juniors. She also said another new course, Broadway Bound, will be offered jointly through Continuing Education and through Parks & Recreation.

Other Offerings

Other new programs being offered this summer include Adventure Safari, Fabric Art, Discovering Great Artists, Express Yourself: Activities and Adventures in Studio Art, Keyboarding, and Music Band Jam.

“Great Clay Adventure is always popular,” said Ms Gellis, “and the jewelry design class is always popular, and anything science.”

Another course, Introduction to Scratch, which teaches students how to use a computer programming software, will also be returning for its third year.

This summer almost all the courses being offered will be held at Reed Intermediate School, according to Ms Gellis.

Each course offered through Continuing Education, Ms Gellis said, offers students an alternative to participating in a sports activity.

The Crime Scene Investigators, Newtown, CT class will cost $299, according to Ms Gellis, while the Broadway Bound course will cost $600.

“It’s a longer day,” Ms Gellis said, “and at the end of their three weeks they will do a production.”

The production will be held at Dickinson Park, and will be open to the participating students family, according to Ms Gellis.

Broadway Bound will be taught by resident Kate Katcher, an actor, writer, director, and producer, for ages 8 to 15.

“We’re excited about the summer,” said Ms Gellis, adding SMART programs will also be returning this summer.

To register for Broadway Bound go to www.newtown-ct.gov or call 203-426-1787.

To register for all other Continuing Education courses, including Crime Scene Investigators, Newtown, CT, call the Continuing Education office at 203-426-1787.