Bringing "CSI" to class

KAYSVILLE — Students in Davis High's new biotechnology class are learning what could be described as a modern game of Clue — only these players aren't just guessing. They answer the questions of who is the father, the murderer and the attacker with rock-hard evidence, the same as would be used in a court of law.

DNA fingerprinting and forensics are concepts that can be found on dozens of popular TV shows such as "Law and Order," "CSI" and "Forensic Files."

And the curiosity and interest that fascinates millions of viewers is the same that entices students from all over Davis County to take perhaps the most rigorous science class offered in the district.

Shawnda Stevens, biotechnology teacher at Davis, said the class gives students a real sense of what scientific research is.

"It's not cookbook," said Stevens. "I think kids sometimes get the idea that science is static and it never changes because we tend to textbook teach them and so they say 'OK, here it is — somebody a long time ago proved this.' With this class it's totally the opposite."

The $70,000 lab comes with a gel electrophoresis machine, a centrifuge that uses centrifugal force to separate cells, an autoclave that sterilizes equipment, a fume hood that sucks up chemical fumes, pH meters, a spectrophotometer that determines the concentration of DNA, and a polymerase chain reaction machine.

Sound confusing? Well, it's not to kids in the class, who are the cream of the crop in science areas. Many have taken honors biology and honors chemistry and have a strong grasp on the concepts. Stevens said a comprehensive understanding of biology and chemistry is a must because the biotech class goes right into application.

The class shoots through in one day what students would spend more than three weeks on in a chemistry class.

The class is almost all hands-on. Students don't even use a textbook and are in the lab almost every day. Aside from the high-tech equipment, the class also has a computer lab used only by the science classes.

Last year the Davis School District gave the school a $70,000 grant from college tech-prep funds for the Davis and Morgan region.

The lab's equipment is comparable to if not better than that found at universities.

Brooke Mueller, a student teacher in the biotech class who majored in biology, said she is doing things in the class that she never did in college.

"Taking this class in high school, I would have been over-prepared for college," Mueller said.

"Plus in that field it is very competitive, you are working with the pre-medicine and pre-dental students and having an extra step ahead of the rest of the class would be very beneficial."