Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/912628
T h e o u t l i n e o f a b o d y. B l o o d y f o o t p r i n t s a n d s h o e . H a i r s t r a n d s i n a c o m b . A s i n g l e earring on the f loor. It's eerie discovering their classroom has been transformed into a gruesome crime scene, but students take it in stride. Science teacher Dave Menshew asks them to figure out what happened to "Matth e w," a sp oi l ed an d unp opul ar young man who went missing after a wild party at his beach house and who later turned up dead. They review a list of possible "suspects," don lab coats and goggles, then form groups to solve "e Case of the Missing Millionaire," based on clues scattered around the lab. Making science come alive through simulated pop culture scenarios is some- thing Menshew has been doing for over a decade, as founder of the Forensics and Biotech Academy at Enochs High School in Modesto. Designed to stimulate student interest in STEM (science, tech- n o l o g y, e n g i n e e r i n g a n d m a t h) , t h e four-year high school program may be the only one of its kind in the nation, says Menshew. Initially, 156 students enrolled; now it's close to 400. "I think my classes are novel; they are not like other science classes," says the Modesto Teachers Association member, who was raised in Modesto. "My students are doing really advanced stuff." Indeed, they are. Each year the Hita- chi Corporation loans the program a $73,000 scanning electron microscope so students can study different types of evidence including fingerprints, hair, fibers and blood. Students also do DNA amplification using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique used to copy a segment of DNA across several orders of magnitude into thousands to millions of copies. Since 2014, the program has had a highly equipped educational PCR lab, with each of its 10 lab stations featuring mini thermal cyclers linked to HP laptops for real-time experimental display. Recently, Maya Lim, co-inventor of a new desktop 3-D bioprinter, delivered the first such unit in the Central Valley to Menshew's classroom. Students use the printer to print bacteria, algae, proteins and food base materials. Menshew also uses zombie simulations to study blood-spatter disease. In 2014, his students were invited to CSU Stanis- laus to share their forensic activities at a public science outreach event. They set up classrooms as postapocalyptic scenes, with "zombies" prepared by professional makeup artists. e event attracted hun- dreds of visitors and engaged learners of all ages, and has been repeated at other outreach events. To qualify as a California Partnership Academy program , 51 p ercent of th e Forensics and Biotech Academy students DAVE MENSHEW Bringing CSI to the Central Valley Modesto Teachers Association HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER Modesto Unified School District 22 cta.org