ON C O U R SE
Summer Session Sleuths The Crime On November 13, 1842, two prominent and well-respected farmers were murdered at Smith Farm in Old Fields, Long Island, New York. [Editor’s note: This is a true story. The house where the 19th-century murder occurred still stands at the intersection of Park Avenue and Little Plains Road in the town now known as Greenlawn.]
The Victims • Alexander and Rebecca Smith The Suspects • Henry Bawer, veteran farmhand • Anton Geisler, new farmhand • Mary Ann Abbot, household help • Francis Curran, peddler The Goal of CSI Andover Working together, students must figure out who committed this gruesome crime. They must use forensics skills developed throughout the course to evaluate crime scene evidence, analyze suspects, and, finally, draw conclusions.
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Andover | Fall 2014
CSI Andover: Anatomy of a Crime A Summer Session course for rising eighth-graders Instructed by Rebecca Roy and teaching assistants Summer Washburn ’11 and Meghan Johnson During the five-week Summer Session course CSI Andover, 14 Lower School Institute students gathered in Gelb Science Center with instructor Rebecca Roy to solve a real-life murder mystery (see sidebar, left). The students, who hailed from as near as Andover and Lawrence, Massachusetts, and as far as Beijing and Tokyo, buzzed with excitement. Some were drawn to the course because they watch the popular TV show CSI. Others, like Jamille Taveras from Lawrence, signed up because they’re curious about criminal justice. And Jaehyuk “Jason” Lim from Songdo City, Incheon, South Korea, says, “Forensic science drew my attention because this part of science includes the life or death of a person, which matters.” Roy, who is in her fourth year as a Summer Session teacher, says the class generates such a high level of interest because it explores a field that’s not often in the public eye. “On the news, you see all the crimes that are committed,” she says, “but you don’t see how they’re solved. Here, students can get into the investigation aspect.” During the school year, Roy teaches forensics, chemistry, and, this year, engineering at Northeast Metro Tech in Wakefield, Massachusetts. She’s also certified to teach physics and math.