CTTL joins in online effort to pique students

CTTL joins in online effort to pique students’ interest in science

BY HEATHER MCLEAN WIEDERHOEFT
Special to the Rice News

While many may see only the negative aspects of watching television, a new team is taking the immensely popular ”CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” TV series and creating an interactive museum exhibit that will allow visitors to learn the science that goes into solving a crime.

COURTESY GRAPHIC

Rice’s Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning (CTTL) is among the collaborators creating ”The ‘CSI’ Experience,” an interactive museum exhibit aimed at showing the science that goes into solving a crime.  CTTL designed the online component of the exhibit, at left, which will launch in conjunction with the May opening of the exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.

”The ‘CSI’ Experience” is being created by a collaboration among the Rice University Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning (CTTL), the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, CBS Consumer Products, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative and the Boys & Girls Club to develop a 5,000-square-foot traveling exhibit that will include an interactive Web module that can be visited both by museum guests and Web travelers.

The NSF is funding ”The ‘CSI’ Experience” with a three-year grant through its Information Science Education Program, which invests in programs that encourage informal learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

”NSF was interested in our proposal because it is leveraging the popularity of the ‘CSI’ series to further interest in science among middle-school students,” explained Leslie Miller, CTTL senior research scholar. ”The initial segment of the Web site will include virtual labs in DNA analyses, toxicology screening, firearms and toolmark identification, and a virtual autopsy. With this project, CTTL is not only contributing to the field of informal education, but we’re finding a way to teach serious science concepts in a way that interests students. There also is a research component that will look at the impact of both the interactive Web site and the exhibition on learning and interest in science careers.”

CTTL has been working on the online component of the exhibit since May. CBS has given CTTL extensive access to the ”CSI” graphic assets so digital illustrators can create scenes and characters that are very similar to those on the television show. The design concept of the Web site was approved recently, and CTTL is working to develop the first case for the site, which will have users going through ”CSI” rookie training.

Forensic scientists are playing a major role in this exhibit, both working with the creators before they design the Web site and museum exhibition and reviewing each finished element. CTTL also is receiving feedback on the Web site from students who participate in the Boys & Girls Club of America’s Houston chapter to ensure the site will hold the interest of this market.

With ”The ‘CSI’ Experience,” Miller hopes students will understand how important education is if they want to become forensic scientists. ”Whether they are able to visit the full museum exhibit, the online experience or both elements of this project, we want adolescents to know that they really need to learn math and science now and go on to college if this is the career they hope to have,” Miller said.

The ”CSI” Experience opens May 25 at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, and the Web site will launch in conjunction with this opening.