At the mention of forensic science, many people immediately think of fingerprints, dead people, perplexing science or television series such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “Bones.”

But chemistry teacher Alan Beamer thinks about his new Forensic Science elective, offered for the first time this year.
Not only has teaching a forensic science class always been one of Beamer’s dreams, it is also something brand new to both him and his students.

“SCDS has given me my first opportunity to attempt this course,” Beamer said. “I’m both excited and a bundle of nerves.”

According to Beamer, forensic science is a “catch-all” term that describes the many branches of science that provide legal evidence for court cases—chemistry, biology, physics, computer science and psychology.

Within those fields of study are specialized subjects such as genetics, criminal profiling, ballistics and archaeology.

Despite forensic science’s voluminous nature, the elective, which meets every other day, is not a rigorous course, Beamer said.

“It is meant to be a non-intensive course for exploration,” he said. “Thus, we can do experiments without having to deal with the meticulous lab reports that students have come to love so much.”

On the second day of class, students began the first unit—blood spatter pattern analysis.

Beamer substituted tomato juice and soup for real blood, but he prefers tomato soup because the viscosity is closer.

“Parents, please don’t worry: everything is quite sterile,” Beamer said.

Students studied the diameters of blood droplets, which vary depending on the heights and angles from which they’re dropped.

They also recorded data and created graphs, plotting diameter vs. height. Then Beamer created a mock crime scene with blood spatters in which students had to use their graphs to figure out the droplets’ height and angle.

“The information and applications (that we learn) are fascinatingly gruesome—or gruesomely fascinating,” Beamer said.

Students will also be introduced to fingerprinting, blood typing, drug testing, blood detection, handwriting analysis and simulated poison.

Each unit will go through the same series of steps as in the blood spatter unit.

Students will first learn the necessary prerequisite materials relating to the unit. Then they will proceed to labs, collect data and use it for graphs and lab sheets. Finally, as the unit wraps up,

Beamer will create a mock crime scene in which students can apply their knowledge.

The diverse units are the reason senior Alistair Fortson was intrigued by this class.

Fortson enjoys the practical science and physics behind forensic science.

“(There’s) a practical usage of it and not just reading about it,” he said. “That’s a draw for me.”

Junior Gerardo Vergara is interested in the police aspect of forensic science.

“It’s interesting how science is behind the things that police do,” Vergara said.

Senior Gordon Ho agrees.

“You get to do CSI stuff which is really cool,” Ho said. “I feel like Horatio Caine (the main character in ‘CSI: Miami’).”

Students will work with technology equipment such as colorimeter probes, which can measure the intensity of a defined wavelength of light that a certain substance absorbs. This is useful in the simulated poison unit to find out what an unknown poison is.

However, this special equipment is basic compared to that used in professional crime labs.

But the real crime labs aren’t exactly identical to the ones shown in “CSI” today, either.

“The technology is out there,” Beamer said. “But most labs aren’t equipped that well.”

In contrast to the “unrealistic time frame” that shows such as “CSI” portray, lab results can actually take as long as six months, Beamer said.

Students will get a taste of the hard, time-consuming work during the fingerprinting unit that real forensic scientists do—with the dusting kit in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other.

Beamer has had some experience with the techniques involved in this elective, but he has never formally received specialized forensic training.

“I am learning some things as I go,” Beamer said. “For instance, I’ve never taken fingerprints in my life. I vaguely remember learning the basics for a sixth-grade Mock Trial case to prove that Santa Claus didn’t steal a wedding ring.”

There are currently eight students enrolled in the class, its maximum capacity.

The elective will be offered all year in the Elective II period, restarting every trimester.

For their next unit, simulated poison, students have already taken a sneak peak by looking at “gruesome images” of poison victims.

According to Beamer, the students asked, “Mr. Beamer, why are you asking us to look this stuff up?”

“They were aghast,” Beamer said. “(The students and I) were like ‘Gosh, what’s wrong with people?’”