Children use clues to solve
hypothetical murder
By Ian Clift
Summer Reporter
Alex Castro is one of 30 middle school children
who participated in solving a hypothetical murder this week.
"They gave us a picture of a suspect," said Castro,
"and we were asked to decide whether the evidence we collected linked
the suspect to the crime."
Castro and his two partners visited various departments
within the School of Science as part of a Multicultural Science Program
one week camp, "Forensic Science, Go Figure!"
Castro, who will attend East Chicago's Central
High School this fall, said Dennis Harp, outreach coordinator for the
physics department, conducted one of the most entertaining portions
of the camp.
"We had to make a formula for measuring the ulna
bone," Castro said.
Harp explained the details of what is called forensic
anthropology. "They develop and use a set of equations, which allow
estimation of living stature from the measurement of length of one of
six long bones of the body."
The students participated in a variety of activities
in an attempt to introduce them to the many fields of science, including
physics, chemistry and biology.
Students conducted a soil analysis through the
earth and atmospheric science department, DNA testing through the biology
department and a lipstick analysis through the chemistry department,
along with other tests.
Julia Hains, outreach coordinator of the chemistry
department, said, "They will actually be doing the analysis on actual
evidence." She introduced the students to the gas chromatograph, where
they analyzed a banana flavored lipstick found at the crime scene to
one found in their suspect's home.
Today ends the students' week at Purdue, they will
compile their results into a poster presentation explaining, in scientific
form, why their suspect is either guilty or not guilty.
Harp said, "The activities we do (in the program)
are novel, in that they are uncommon for students at any level." Harp
hopes the students take an appreciation for science and mathematics
with them, "and the sense that they are quite capable of accomplishing
scientific investigation."
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