Would you let your kids take part in this?

[oliviapl]

NC as this is a bit outing.

I have been asked to do an assembly in a local school to my university. Its a way to get kids interested in STEM and several people are going on separate days to give a talk/assembly session on their area of study/work. Mine is forensic and crime science. As you can imagine trying to pick something that isn't too gory but not too boring but not too difficult was really hard.

I've eventually decided to go with a talk on forensic archaeology (digging up bones). I am going to give a little talk about what it is, the different bones, how we can use these bones to tell sex, age and height of a person. Then I will have several activity stations (all the same but lots so small groups can each have a go) where the kids can dig up some bones, lay them out, label them and use the skills I talked about in the session to determine sex and age.

The age group is 8-11 years old. Do you think this will be okay for them?
I have to submit the idea myself and I don't want to look like an idiot by suggesting something too old or something parents might not find appropriate. I don't have much experience with kids so not really sure myself. Any feedback would be great, thanks!

Since the skeleton the casts were taken from are over 100 years old and from an unmarked (lost) grave in a church graveyard I can simply answer questions of the family etc with ''We simply don't know, we can't tell that from the science and techniques we have''. So I think that is covered.
As for the cause of death, we know this particular person died from old age so nothing gory (we do have bones like this but I specifically chose these ones) etc, hence why the bones are being used - no obvious changes to the bones but clear signs of aging.

All of the casts in the boxes will be the same but since kids aren't rotating to another box and are working in their own little group they won't realise.

''We simply don't know, we can't tell that from the science and techniques we have''. So I think that is covered.

You see, to me that's the scientist speaking there. It's something we don't know, that our science can't help us with, so it doesn't matter, and we move on. To a kid it may not work like that. Saying 'we don't /can't know' is not 'having it covered' IMO. It shows that you are emotionally detached and are struggling to see that (some) children may not be easily able to do that. They may still be sad! Not having the answers does not make the feelings go away.
By all means, bring it back to the science, but don't be surprised if some children are emotionally affected.

(Just to reiterate, I'd still send my child! :) )

BigWeald

I get what you mean but I can't lie to the kids and make something up to make them feel better about it IYSWIM.
We don't know the person's name or family etc because we don't have the scientific means to find out, that's why we still have the skeleton and it hasn't been re-buried yet (also its over 100 years old and once the remains are established to be a certain number of years old - I think its 100- and there are no claims to the remains they can be kept. This is off the top of my head though, I'd have to go back to my notes to check).

You seem to have it pretty covered. Two suggestions:-

Maybe in each group, you could allocate jobs, (e.g have 3/4 excavating, and 3/4 in non-digging but still important roles like labelling, photographing, researching - have badges to wear - then change over after a few minutes, so everyone gets a proper turn at digging and it doesn't become a rushed "treasure hunt". The children will see that the other jobs are valued, not just the digging.

Give them a certificate (and something tangible like a badge or promotional pencil if you have the budget) to take home, along with a leaflet with information about what they did and things they could do next - website, next event, local museum/ site to visit, a safe investigation to carry out themselves at home e.g. Fingerprints. This gives you a chance to also reach their parents and siblings with the STEM message.

Good luck, it sounds wonderful.

Casz Great idea with the certificates and that - I didn't think of that one. I was asked to give handouts for them to take home though. I was thinking like a paper skeleton they can cut out and stick together with little labels they can stick on the bones? But I'm worried it might be a bit fussy for parents to do.

All the kids will be give crime scene suits (like the white ones with the hood) and gloves. Partly because it'll be fun to dress up and partly to stop them getting sand all over their uniforms. The teacher with each sand pit will be in charge of making sure the kids take turns to dig although I am putting enough bones for each child in the group to dig up one each.

Don't suppose you fancy branching out into childrens parties do you OP? Dd is almost 6 and would love this, as would her 9 year old cousin.

My 8 year old son would absolutely love that.

I've attended family workshops at think forensic linked earlier. It was fabulous. I had my DS, and some friends of his.

The boys particularly liked liked carrying out the CSI on a mock burglary.

JsOtherHaf you must live near me then.

Yes I think my kids would be interested in something like this.

Sorry if I'm repeating someone else but I haven't read all the posts

I think taking the bones in is a great idea. I think the kids would find it really fascinating but I don't get how the digging them out of the sand will work. Surely you won't be able to get enough sand for it to be anything more than a case of putting you hand in the sand and pulling out the bone. It would end up being a lot of work for two seconds of 'hunting'. It also be messy surely? I understand I may not be imagining this correctly though!

If it is just a matter on the bones being under a layer of sand then I'd give it a miss as I'm sure the bones would be interesting enough on their own.

This sounds like a brilliantly thought-out session which, as a primary teacher and parent of primary-aged children (one of whom was enthralled by a video of open heart surgery at the Hunterian museum when she was 4), I'd be thrilled to be involved with.

The one thing that hasn't been mentioned but I can imagine being raised by children is the issue of cremation. Even though the original bones will have been buried, there may well be questions about what happens to bones that have been cremated. It's easy enough to answer but may be a bit of a shock to be asked something along the lines of, "does this mean that this person wasn't burnt in a giant furnace?" so it's worth being prepared for brutally phrased questions!

And I second the calls for a national tour please!

The sand pit thing will be okay (lots of long bones and smaller bones will be included i.e femur, ribs, kneecaps). Also if the bones are too small it will make it harder to dig I think. The sand pits are quite wide but not too deep.

SE13 Thank you very much! I'm hoping cremation won't come up (I'm not mentioning it anyway) its more than just burning the bones, its also spinning them in a machine with a big ballbearing the smash them up into ash etc. I think if they ask I will say cremation is another way we can dispose of a body by heating the bones up and turning them to ashes (I'll just try and gloss over it and turn it back to what I'm saying).

But I need to think of another word for ''dispose'' because I don't think that sounds that good! Haha!

I think it sounds fab.

Absolutely you need to take your idea on tour! Kids will love it and it would make a huge difference getting children involved in science more.

Please come back and let us know how it all goes and how much fun the kids have.