CSI Agents
Where can your kids learn about scientific principles and techniques that are used today by crime scene investigators and forensic scientist? You most probably are thinking on the latest episode of Law and Order, NCIS or CSI. Well, your family now can go to an interactive exhibit called CSI: The Experience. This exhibition incorporates elements from the popular CBS series, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”
Our family had an unbelievable time when we entered the crime scenes at Discovery Times Square in New York City. The hands-on experience let us identify and record evidence. We investigated the crime scene “Who Got Served?”. In this case, a young woman was found dead in an alley behind an old Las Vegas motel. There was a tire tread across her abdomen and beside her was a headshot of her ripped in half.
Just like real crime scene investigators we looked at digital evidence left behind and was able to retrieve who the victim sent her last text message to and to who! Then, we looked at latent prints on the photograph and impression evidence from the tire tracks.
Later, we investigated the forensic aspect and reviewed the toxicology report of the substance the bag near the victim. Learning about forensic entomology, we were able to determine the time of death. Studying the forensic biology, we learned the victim’s true identity by looking at her DNA.
Cracking the Case
We ended up solving the crime by determining the cause of death and reported back to the medical examiner. Our supervisor, Gil Grissom awarded us a diploma, making us CSI Agents for cracking the case!
The CSI experience was fun and educational! In addition to the case we investigated, you can also investigate two other cases called “A House Collided” or “No Bones About It!”. After going through these exhibits, you will learn things like calculating a person’s height by measuring their femur bone or that the diameter determines the caliber of a bullet.
It is always a lot of fun when you experience something hands-on! The fact that this exhibit also was entrenched in multimedia via videotaped messages from the cast of the TV show just made this adventure awesome.
This exhibit is currently in Las Vegas, New York, and Australia and geared towards kids that are twelve and older. I hope your family will be able to plunge into the action of solving one of the three crimes because it was not only fun and educational, but a great opportunity to work together as a family. Good luck cracking the case!
My 13-year-old son would love this!
This looks like a great and fun place to visit. Unfortunately, my kids are a little too young for it but my husband and I would definitely love to do this. =)
My husband is a professor of forensic chemistry at Marshall University’s masters program in forensic science. He and his students run CSI camps often for local high schools, in the summer and one, after parents bringing their kids complained so much that they wanted to stay, for adults. Well attended, the camps provide his students fundraising to attend the annual professional association meeting each February, this year in Atlanta, where they present posters and get to know the people that may give them a job when they graduate.
Thanks Terri! Mary, this exhibit is definitely fun for adults. The exhibit was crowded with families and couples. Beth, the camp you mentioned sounds awesome. Now that my son is getting older, it is harder to find cool things for him to do in the summer. We were also thinking about checking out the spy camp in Washington DC run through the SPy Museum. I believe the ages were 13 to 17.