School students complete CSI-style challenge day at University

Secondary school students visited Loughborough University’s Department of Chemistry last week as part of a special CSI-style challenge.

Students from across the local area used a combination of forensic observation, analytical chemistry and suspect profiling to solve a fictitious crime scene scenario involving a traffic collision on the University campus.

Participating teams from Years 8 – 10 were given access to the car and its contents, and took photographs of items they found at the scene. They then visited laboratories within the Department of Chemistry and were given guidance by Loughborough academics on how to analyse the evidence.

Following this, students have been asked to complete a short crime scene and lab analysis report and will present their conclusions to a panel of judges.

The competition is part of the 3M annual Young Innovators Challenge 2017. The collaboration with the University is designed to maximise the opportunity for forensic-science related STEM learning for students.

School and College Liasion Manager, Kirsty Wilkinson, commented: “The challenge was a huge success and it was fantastic to see so many students getting involved to try and solve the scenario. Over the two days, students were guided by colleagues in the Department of Chemistry and learnt how to analyse evidence through various techniques.

“We are delighted to have hosted the event within the University and would like to thank 3M for giving us the opportunity to do so. We look forward to finding out the winners of the competition.”

Judging will take place on May 11 and 12 by Callum Crane, Chemistry Teaching Technician at Loughborough University and Dr Audrey Matthews, Former Principal Lecturer at De Montfort University.

Winners of all the Young Innovators Challenges will be announced at a special awards evening on June 23.

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