Solving crime in the classroom

High school biology teacher Amye O’Steen has a great background from which to draw to help her teaching. She was a lab technician for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and now in addition to Biology courses she teaches about crime scene investigations. It seems like a great idea to show students how science has real world applications.

While with FDLE, her lab work was instrumental in bringing to justice the Jacksonville serial killer who murdered five women while working as a taxi driver. O’Steen would also visit high schools and give presentations on her work.
When she came on board at KHHS, she proposed to Principal Susan Sailor that this school year she be allowed to teach CSI to her Biology 2 honors students. Sailor gave O’Steen’s innovative idea the green light.
Consequently, she now has two classes a day, composed of a total of 35 students who are exposed to the full gamut of CSI activities-everything from observation of a crime scene and the deductions that can be drawn from it, to collection of the most minute evidence.

About Brandon Haught

Communications Director for Florida Citizens for Science.
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