BBHS Math Students Head to Sheriff’s HQ for Mock CSI Field Study

Forty-three Big Bear High School students spent their day at the headquarters of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department this week. The field trip on Monday was part of a special program between the Sheriff’s Department and the Alliance for Education in San Bernardino County, which allowed for the students, high school juniors and seniors in advanced math and AP biology classes, to participate in a mock CSI field study. Retired Crime Lab Director Craig Ogino instructed students in CSI techniques, and even showed them crime scene photos from a Big Bear incident from the ‘80s. BBHS junior Tessa Putz says, “It was fascinating. We learned how the math we’re learning in school can apply to daily situations. Real crime scene investigators used things we’ve learned in trig’ and geometry to show us how to trace blood splatters at a crime scene. It was amazing to see how a few droplets could prove a sequence of events.” High school students evaluated crime scene evidence, and upon completion of the full day program, each BBHS student received a certificate of completion. Kim Terry, the curriculum specialist for the Alliance for Education, says that the student CSI program has been in place for three years and, he adds, “The whole point of this is to make math real for the kids, and show them how upper-level math can apply to the real world.”