GREEN RIVER — On a cold, windy Thursday morning, students in a Green River High School science class got to put their blood spatter analysis skills to the test.
Science teachers Shawna Mattson and Megan Allen started their morning by suiting up in Tyvek coveralls and goggles. The day’s lab: recreating the different types of blood spatter patterns found at a crime scene. This isn’t unusual for the duo’s students. Fingerprint dusting, gel electrophoresis and crime scene investigation are among the other activities students explore.
As the bell rang for second period, students began trickling into Allen’s classroom.
Advertisement – Story continues below…
“Oh my God, we get to wear the suits today!” one student exclaimed. “I’m actually stoked for this,” said another.
The Tyvek suits that made it all possible almost didn’t happen. The specialized coveralls were too expensive for the class budget until Tata Chemicals and Rocky Mountain Sewer Pros stepped in with a donation large enough to outfit every student.
Allen stood at the front of the room, Tyvek-clad and safety goggles pushed up to her forehead, and walked students through the procedure. Each group soaked a sponge in a paint-and-water mixture formulated to simulate blood, then selected a blunt instrument of their choice.
The group of teens, looking like massive cotton swabs in their protective gear, marched to the parking lot as they carried their instruments of destruction alongside tarps, cardboard and soon-to-be-bloodied paper. Hammers, wrenches, mallets and even a frying pan struck the sponges with a squelching thud as faux blood sprayed across the paper and occasionally on to the students.
The goal was to recreate five distinct patterns forensic investigators look for at crime scenes: impacts, cast-offs, voids, wipes and transfers. Once finished, each pattern was sealed in a manila envelope, ready to be analyzed in class the following day, when student groups will attempt to identify each other’s work.
A Crime of Passion
The forensic science course at GRHS was born out of a simple question; what would actually make students want to learn science?
“We were looking for classes that kids would just be really interested in,” Allen said. “Forensics is a really cool opportunity because it covers all the different disciplines, chemistry, physics, life science.”
The pair also saw an opening for students who had slipped through the cracks of traditional science coursework. Not every kid who sat through biology walked out eager to sign up for chemistry. Not every student who finished physical science knew there was something else out there for them.
The two built the class themselves, from scratch, figuring it out as they went. This is their first year offering it. They didn’t advertise heavily, just listed it in the course book and let word spread. Three sections filled with more than 60 students. Requests are already coming in for at least three more sections next year.
The curriculum has encompassed a full spectrum of forensic science. Students have dusted for fingerprints using real brushes and powder, conducted DNA analysis using gel electrophoresis, performed burn and acid tests on textiles and participated in a mock crime scene investigation, complete with staff members as suspects. Green River Police Department Detective Trevor Kirkwood visited multiple times throughout the year, teaching fingerprint techniques and serving as a judge to determine whether students had followed proper procedure and gathered enough evidence to justify a mock arrest warrant.
“We’re learning a ton as we go, because neither of us have ever taken a class in forensics,” Mattson said with a laugh. “It’s been fun.”
The class has already inspired at least one future career. Senior Iliana Birmingham is headed to Bowling Green State University in Ohio, drawn in part by its forensics program. She plans to become a forensic genealogist. She took genetics the previous year, enrolled in forensics this year and never looked back.
“She was right where she belonged,” Mattson said.