FBI Does Presentation for Westlake Middle School

WESTLAKE, OH - The Cleveland FBI came to Lee Burneson Middle School this past week. Luckily, it wasn't for any nefarious reason. Agents were helping seventh grade students get a hands-on lesson in evidence collection.

The Evidence Response Team (ERT) came to Deb Schrembeck's Language Arts class. Students in the class are reading "And Then There Were None" the classic mystery novel by Agatha Christie. As part of the lesson, students were asked to learn about crime scene investigation.

Agents from the ERT walked students through the behind-the-scenes work that goes into evidence collection. The agents described their jobs and how they collect footprints, hair and fibers, bullet trajectory and more.

Social Studies teacher Kip Primrose also walked students through the structure of a mystery story using a Google Classroom lesson. The teacher also walked them through vocabulary common in mystery stories, hoping to familiarize students with some of the terminology used by the FBI during evidence collection. Students were also able to work riddles during the lesson and used data to solve mysteries.

The entire lesson and presentation was put together by Lee Burneson Middle School Media Specialist Trish Kosik. Kosik has a relative who works for the California FBI. Using that connection she arranged the presentation with the Cleveland FBI. This is now the second year the Cleveland FBI has made a presentation at Lee Burneson.

“I try to keep my finger on the pulse of what teachers are doing,” Kosik said. “I told Deb about my family member in the FBI and we were able to make a connection with the Cleveland ERT.”

Photo from Westlake Schools