Autopsy of "Live, Protect, Serve"

In the first unit of A Nation’s Argument I learned the fundamental elements of an argument, deductive and inductive reasoning, and more about the U.S. Declaration of Independence. We looked at how and when countries became independent, and the structure of which documents claim this independence. This brought us to the first action project, which is to create a class to include in a course for GCE and to write a declaration as to why it should be offered. I was very pleased with the topic I chose for this assignment because I am very passionate about law and justice. It had been difficult coming up with a main guiding question for the course since it covered such a wide variety of information. Please enjoy my Declaration of Independent Study below.
                                                                                                                                                                   

GCE Lab School is designed to prepare students for life outside of school. It’s based upon the foundation of achievement using the pillars of gratitude, acceptance, purpose and autonomy. So I declare the right to the independent study of crime and forensic sciences, for what better way is there to show achievement than to help protect and defend the foundations of our country?

The purpose of school/learning is to be able to comfortably support yourself on your own and to further advance the knowledge you have, because the one thing no one can take from you is your mind and the knowledge you carry. By learning forensic sciences and the laws you can help keep people safe by putting criminals behind bars. My unalienable rights as a student are the pursuit of what I am passionate about and to learn whatever I want. This class is an expression of these rights since it would be exploring a topic that I and many others are passionate about and find intriguing.

My course would be called, “Live, Protect, Serve”, and would be a summer class for upperclassmen, juniors and seniors, only because it requires a sense of maturity and the students would be old enough to transport themselves to many FE sites across the city without need of adult supervision. The courses guiding question is: “How can forensics keep us safe?” Students have the right to be able to get ahead in the fierce competition for jobs with the FBI, CIA, or Department of Homeland Security if they want to protect our country on the home front. By taking this class, they are already way more advanced than another possible applicant who is the same age. It will teach the students skills of enhanced observation, how to “talk” with the dead, and how to investigate leads. This is also a great opportunity to connect with your peers and to have fun with these hands-on projects. People need to realize that crime exists and that these are real people who are in trouble and in need of help; if we are not there for them no one will be. The world has many crazy people who will do psychopathic things, and we need to help one another survive as best we can. To have partnerships with the FBI, police detectives, and schools with labs would be beneficial to this course. Some supplies we will need are the basic forensics kits and textbooks of the basic 101 of forensic science and criminal justice. An activity to include would be a mock trial every three weeks to teach how the accused are judged. Due to this class including both humanities and STEAM materials it would be best as a co-taught class. Jamie would be the humanities teacher of the course, while Aaron would be the STEAM teacher. Students of the class would be split into groups for the day. One focusing on autopsies and the analyzing of clues such as DNA or the means of a victim's death. This would include Forensic Anthropology, the study of the human skeleton and identity, Forensic Nursing, the collection of DNA and other evidence, Criminalistics, the scientific analysis of evidence, and Forensic Pathology, the performing of autopsies and determining means of death. The other would focus on the connection between the law/courtroom and the crime scene that involves Forensic Psychology, who assess the mental health of criminals and work side by side with the criminal justice system, Crime Scene Investigation, those who comb through a scene to find evidence and take photos of the scene, and Law, to understand what happens after a criminal is caught.

P1: The foundation of achievement carries on from GCE to our country.

P2: Students have greater knowledge and stand a better chance at getting a government job.

P3: Learning forensics will help solve crimes and protect the defenseless.

C: GCE should offer a forensic science and crime class.

TS.(2016) "Foundation"

I declare there be a class about forensics and crime. This will help them understand that the defenseless people need help from violent criminals and serial killers. It builds character, the skills to solve complex puzzles, and to be able to work under pressure. We must Live in order to Protect, so we can Serve those in need.

Black and White

In Light, Sound and Time we explore the interactions light, sound and time have on our everyday lives. Unit 1, Light, had been about light and how it interacts with objects and our brains. During the unit we learned about the electromagnetic spectrum, how light acts as a wave vs particle, the similarities between the eye and camera. This brought us to our first action project, building a pinhole camera.

TS "Pinhole Camera" (2016) GCE Lab School

Pinhole cameras capture light when light from an object shines into a pinhole sized hole where the image of the object is flipped until it is burned onto a special film paper. I had left the shutter open for three minutes to allow the image to develop. Once I closed the shutter I immediately went into the dark room where there are no lights, except for the special red lights on the ground. I then removed the film from my camera and processed it through four chemicals that allow the photo to become visible and safe to light.

TS "Inside Pinhole Camera" (2016) GCE Lab School

The camera does not illustrate refraction because refraction only occurs when light goes from one medium to another, such as air to glass or air to water, which then slows down light causing it to bend. Due to there only being a hole nothing will change the light speed. It is important that the inside of the camera to be completely black in order to prevent the light from reflecting thus causing the picture to be ruined or distorted. If the cameras inside had been white the light coming in would be reflected throughout the box since white is a reflectant of light whereas black is an absorbent of light.

This camera exhibits wave vs particle by when the light crosses through each other and does not collide, like a wave, and the light's energy is transferred onto the special film paper, like a particle, which then causes a chemical reaction to occur in the film paper, creating an image. It represents the visible section of the electromagnetic spectrum since the black inside absorbs all the colors of white light. Below are my calculations I did when figuring out the similar triangles that are involved when taking a picture of an object, in my case my favorite mug. The distance from the lens to paper had been 18.3 centimeters, the height of the mug was 12.3 centimeters, and the height of the pinhole had been 6.3 centimeters.

TS "Similar Triangles" (2016) GCE Lab School

TS "Pinhole Camera Light" (2016) GCE Lab School

For the picture I used a shutter speed of three minutes, this way the film had enough time to absorb the light to create a better picture. I had attempted a second picture because, after the film was developed, I saw the camera was only able to see half the mug due to the height of the pinhole. If I were to do this again I would want to play with the shutter speed to try and get the best picture possible. I would also lower the height of my pinhole in order to capture the full image of the object I am photographing.

TS "Mug Pinhole Photo" (2016) Latin School