EAST LANSING, Mich. — As forensic science classes gain in popularity at high schools across the country, many science teachers are finding themselves unprepared to teach blood spatter analysis and crime scene processing.
MSU, which has the nation’s oldest forensic science program, is now one of the first institutions to provide high school teachers with comprehensive forensic science training.
“Sometimes, principals just tell a teacher to cover forensics,” said David Foran, director of MSU’s Forensic Science Program and professor of criminal justice and zoology. “From their training in college, the teachers don’t have a background to teach something as broad as forensics. We’re trying to give them resources to do it.”
The first-ever Forensic Science Educational Conference to take place in Michigan will be Aug. 4-7 at MSU’s Holmes Hall. Speakers from MSU, the Michigan State Police and Sparrow Hospital will help about 65 teachers from across the country develop forensic lab courses in a resourceful way.
“They learn a lot of ways to do stuff with really limited budgets,” Foran said, explaining that DNA isolation can be done simply by using a banana, shampoo and table salt. “That’s how we do it.”
The conference will cover everything from footwear and tire impressions to a new topic MSU has introduced: forensic botany, which involves learning to identify the pollen and spores that suspects can carry away with them from a crime scene.
Michigan is the third state this year to host such a conference, Foran said. MSU was an ideal location, he added, due to its expertise and its relationship with the State Police forensic lab.
The popularity of forensic science comes from TV shows such as “CSI” that intrigue youngsters, said Capt. Michael Thomas, director of the State Police’s Forensic Science Division. “MSU provides the scientific education background, while Michigan State Police provides the application of the science, thereby creating a learning environment that is positive for the students,” Thomas said.
The conference is sponsored by MSU, the State Police, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, truTV and the Binda Foundation. Walk-ins are welcome on Aug. 4. For more information, check the itinerary at http://www.aafs.org/pdf/FSEC-MSU.pdf.