Students experiment in college lab

Last week, Amanda Redman and Sarah Knox (pictured above left to right) attended a field trip to one of Wheaton College's chemistry labs as part of their forensics class at Wheaton North High School. Three classes of students worked in the college's lab to solve a murder mystery, A Sheep, A Wolf and A Dog.

Written by Wheaton College graduate student Melody David, the murder mystery takes place in a small, rural town where sheep are raised. Students are tasked with determining how each animal died by analyzing chemical samples using an NMR, a nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. An NMR allows for the discovery of potential "fingerprints" on a hydrogen molecule. The high-tech machine, a small version is pictured above, costs approximately $60,000.

By the end of the visit, North students felt challenged but accomplished. We can't tell you how the animals died, as it will ruin the fun for the next students! Read the Daily Herald article with additional details about the field trip.

How did this partnership come about? A few years ago, Betsy Leong, a secondary science coordinator in the college's Education Department, reached out to Wheaton North Science Department Chair Michael Voss to discuss opportunities for the school and college to partner. Last Friday marked the third field trip forensics students have made to Wheaton College. Wheaton North forensics teacher Rachelle Terada also coordinated a stop on the trip at the DuPage County Coroner's Office to learn about services and work of the Coroner.

Partnering with Wheaton College allows our high school students to have opportunities they may not otherwise have in science courses, and gives them a real look into a potential career path.

Forensic Science is the application of scientific methods using principles from Biology, Chemistry and Physics in crime investigations. This course is lab­-based and may include the following themes of study: crime scene evidence, forensic anthropology, toxicology, trace evidence, DNA, fingerprints, impression evidence, analysis of glass, serology, and questionable documents. Forensic Science provides basic knowledge of proper crime scene procedures and evidence processing that includes proper collection, documentation and preservation of physical evidence. Students engage in investigations to understand and explain a variety of scenarios that incorporate scientific reasoning, analysis, communication skills and real­-world applications.