A group of boisterous adolescents in Okanogan County, Wash., quiets down to peer into microscopes and begin to apply new skills in DNA analysis to find a missing person.
The junior crime-scene investigators are learning to accurately place delicate samples on scientific instruments and attentively record and monitor experimental results. They are in pursuit of clues to a fictional scenario arranged by staff of the state corrections department.
Leading the young scientists is Carla McFadden, one of more than 500 K-12 teachers across the state who have received gel electrophoresis kits, microscopes, portable water analysis tools, model skeletons and many other scientific instruments through the Washington State University School of Biological Sciences’ equipment loan program (ELP).