A group of Alexandria Senior High students discovered a dead body. At least for the purposes of Principles of Biomedical Science, they did.
The hands-on biology class is making its debut at ASH, one of three high schools in the state that offers it.
“It’s a biology class being applied to the medical field,” said teacher Krystal Briley.
The 20 students in the class started their work in earnest this past week, with the discovery of the body of the fictional “Anna Garcia.”
Students began by sifting through evidence, the first step in determining if a homicide took place or if Garcia died of natural causes.
“We’ll use her the whole year,” Briley said. “Was it a heart condition? We’ll learn about heart conditions and dissect a sheep’s heart. Maybe it was diabetes, so we’ll learn about the circulatory system. We’ll go through each system of the body trying to determine: ‘Is this how she died?'”
The class is designed to be entirely student-driven, with a heavy emphasis on discovery rather than lectures. Online investigation will play a large role.
The class is part of nonprofit Project Lead the Way, which is dedicated to boosting innovative Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) curriculum in middle and high schools across the country.
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