Crime scenes prove a winner for students
Youngsters unravelled the clues to impress judges in contest
DIXIE Grammar School has beaten stiff competition to win the Science Detectives Challenge in this year’s 3M Young Innovators Challenge competition.
With work on the challenge having to be finalised during lockdown, the Market Bosworth school competed against seven other teams using crime scene investigation skills to solve the simulated death of a fictitious geology student in a case called Death Among the Fossils.
In January, the students visited a mocked up crime scene at 3M’s Charnwood campus, in Loughborough, to gather their evidence to help determine cause of death and possible suspects.
This involved a thorough examination of the scene, photographing, measuring and collecting samples of evidence for further analysis. Under the guidance of 3M science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) ambassadors, the students also conducted sophisticated scientific analysis on their samples, such as gas chromatography and infrared spectroscopy, to help unravel the many clues.
They began their investigation as a team at school and, since the Covid-19 lockdown, one student continued the project at home, producing lab analysis and crime scene reports and a poster summarising conclusions for the judges.
The challenge findings were submitted electronically and the judging was conducted remotely by former 3M scientist Samantha Holmes and Dr Martin Arrowsmith, a medical device consultant.
The judges awarded the school first prize based on a detailed and comprehensive investigation, excellent documentation of the crime scene, impressive use of technical language and terminology and interpretation of the toxicology report.
The school wins £750 funding for new science equipment, with an individual prize for the student who completed and submitted the project work. All students who completed the challenge receive a 3M Young Innovators certificate and British Science Association CREST Bronze Award.
Rosalind Smith, reputation communications manager at 3M, praised all the students who completed the Science Detectives Challenge for their outstanding work.
She said: “We are delighted that eight of the teams who entered the competition continued to work on the challenge despite being at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All of the students have shown resilience and exceptional commitment by working remotely and we were very impressed with the level of detail their investigations showed.
“This has been one of the hardest investigation scenarios we’ve set since we launched the Young Innovators competition seven years ago, so each student should feel very proud of their achievement.”