Linda Heidenrich
SED 625
“Pucker Up and Go to Jail”
I attended Gordon Sanford’s presentation on Sunday at the CSTA conference.
His presentation was based on his curriculum for a forensic investigation class he teaches
in the greater San Jose area. Mr. Sanford coordinates with several local high schools to
create a joint classroom and laboratory approach to forensic science.
Mr. Sanford
provides his students enough hands-on hours in a fully supplied forensic laboratory to
allow them to graduate high school with a certificate to be evidence technical assistants.
Mr. Sanford shared with us many of his recent graduates are now working for major
insurance companies, such as State Farm, at eighteen years old because they have the
experience in re-creating and analyzing the evidence from a crash site (G. Sanford,
personal communication, October 22, 2006). The investigation we participated in related
to cheiloscopy, lip print comparison through physical characteristics, and molecular
identification of lipsticks through paper chromatography.
Mr. Sanford’s conclusions on the success of his ROP, or regional occupation
program, results from his daily interactions and success with students in the laboratory
who take science at a local high school and then join Mr. Sanford in the lab to reenact
crime scenes and apply their knowledge of science. Mr. Sanford has led this program for
two years and has seen his graduates successfully attain good paying, white collar jobs as
high school graduates.
Mr. Sanford’s success is corroborated by several pieces of
research. A 2001 survey of various human resources and staffing centers in Oklahoma
City entitled “Who Makes the Grade” showed four times as many employers were happy
with vocational program graduates as they were with high school graduates. In addition,
the employers continued to explain their satisfaction with the vocational program
graduates resulted from the fact those graduates have specific skills that make them more
marketable (Johnson, 2001). Other studies also showed the effectiveness of vocational
programs and the positive feedback from employers but they also were limited to a small
area and a limited sample. Although Mr. Sanford’s program is not based on any specific
research, and he has only been running the program a couple years limiting the number of
graduates and, therefore, the sample size to assess success, the facts so far demonstrate
successful research. In only two years he has created a program that is so efficient and
reliable his students graduate high school with a trade certificate licensing them as ETA’s
or evidence technical assistants.
At Oxnard High School, we started a law academy this year for students
interested in law enforcement. After attending this conference, I approached the law
academy coordinator with the curriculum of Mr. Sanford’s program and the sample
lesson seen at the CSTA conference. She was so pleased and excited to create a similar
program at Oxnard High School that she had me meet with the assistant principal in
charge of the academy and author a proposal for a new forensics course which I won’t
even start teaching for a couple years because the students are freshmen and do not have
the scientific background to be successful in the forensics course. I believe strongly in
hands-on learning and realize many students need motivation and relevance to get excited
about science. In the age of the CSI franchise, students find relevance and motivation in
forensics. Yet, the forensics course incorporates both chemistry, biology and physics
content standards in a year-long course allowing students to learn science in a fun way to
them. Also, in my case, the forensics course provides a goal to achieve and a reason to
be successful in science. If the students are not successful in biology and chemistry, they
can not participate in the forensics course their senior year.
References:
Johnson, Heather. "WHO MAKES THE GRADE" Training 38.11 (Nov 2001):
24. Custom Military Database. Thomson Gale. California State Univ,
Northridge. 12 Dec. 2006