MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- The fifth- and sixth-graders assembled at the Quantico Youth Center weren’t sure about the term “forensics” — Is it robot-related? Sounds like “friendship?” — but nearly all were familiar with the “CSI” television franchise, making the concept easily understood.
Two sessions of the Tiger Woods Learning Center’s Crime Scene Investigator Workshop on Sept. 21, 2013, marked the beginning of a three-year partnership between the learning center and Quantico’s Marine Corps Community Services, aimed at making real-world applications of science, technology, engineering and math relatable and fun.
“The point of this, really, is more authentic learning experiences that can tie what students learn in school to actual careers and colleges,” said Eric Moore, program director with the Tiger Woods Foundation and teacher for the Sept. 21 workshops at Quantico.
There will be two more sets of weekend workshops for fifth- and sixth-graders this school year, but the larger program will be three, two-month afterschool courses each school year for grades six to eight at Quantico Middle/High School.
The first afterschool series, planned to begin in late October, will also follow a forensic science theme. While the children at Saturday’s sessions learned about fingerprinting and the earlier technique of using body part measurements to identify suspects, students in the afterschool program, which will meet twice a week, will delve into greater depth, learning handwriting analysis, hair analysis, DNA extraction and other techniques. The series will culminate with the students analyzing a mock crime scene to solve a murder.
Two more afterschool series are tentatively planned to begin in January and April, said Tammy Smith, Quantico school liaison, who has been working with the Tiger Woods Foundation to coordinate the programs.
In addition to hiring and training a facilitator, the TWLC will donate 24 laptops and 12 microscopes to the middle/high school for use with the program, Smith said. “It’s a great, great sponsorship.”
Moore said the foundation has committed $150,000 to fund the Quantico programs for the next three years.
Future afterschool programs may teach dissection, entomology, robotics, video game design or other subjects, he said.
Quantico Middle/High School is the fourth to host the program, Moore said, noting that the Tiger Woods Learning Center started in 2006 in Anaheim, Calif., but only recently started taking its programs to schools around the country.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Smith, adding that the program is starting at a time when MCCS and the schools are struggling to maintain their programs amid budget cuts.
Slots for the weekend program are limited to 25 per session, and 24 students may participate in each afterschool series, although Moore said the program may be expanded to run two series concurrently. Both are open to any military children, regardless of where they go to school.
“In general, the feedback we get is very positive from both students and parents,” Moore said. “The kids are motivated and excited about learning.”
“It’s a great opportunity for parents, too, because they have somewhere safe and secure for their kids to go after school, and it’s an educational environment,” said Smith.
Fourteen students attended the morning session on Sept. 21, and seven more came to the afternoon lesson.
— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com