Television! For over 50 years parents and the public at large have blamed television for the creation of self-indulgent, couch hugging youngsters.

They say the youth of today have simultaneously developed shrinking attention spans and expanding ideas of the need for every toy and game seen on TV.

But there is currently another phenomenon attached to television. In the past several years there seems to be an unquenchable thirst for crime investigation shows, both real-life and drama, prime time and syndication, factual and “enhanced” for the television audience and for those all-important ratings!

Science educators have been watching this phenomenon unfold as well. They have recognized that a perfect marriage of science concepts and skills with the “real world application” of science knowledge can be found in the area of forensic science.

The students, now intensely interested in the field of using science to solve crimes, as portrayed in the crime scene investigation shows, find that they can carry out simulations of these investigations right in their high school laboratories.