Wearing white disposable jumpsuits and rubber gloves, investigators carefully lifted the yellow tape and entered three separate crime scenes Wednesday morning.

But these investigators, armed with crime scene kits and digital cameras, were Central Junior High School ninth-graders. The crime scenes they were investigating, staged murders and a kidnapping, were set up in the school’s auditorium.

“I was the first one on the crime scene,” advanced biology student Kyleigh Haggard said. “I basically took photographs of what was obvious and what wasn’t obvious.”

The exercise was the culmination of a six-week forensic science unit — the first of its kind in Lawrence public schools — developed by Central’s advanced biology teacher, Deena Shipley.

“Last spring, with the interest in ‘C.S.I.’ (the TV show) and everyone was watching it, I thought, ‘You know, I could incorporate that into my curriculum,'” Shipley said. “It just might inspire a few of the kids who aren’t necessarily interested in the regular science curriculum.”

So Shipley applied for a grant with the Lawrence Schools Foundation. During the summer she learned she would receive $1,000 to teach the unit.

“Without them, the program wouldn’t have been off the ground at all,” Shipley said.

Shipley has taught at Central the past six years, but this was a first. She brought guest speakers into her classroom, including Lawrence Police officers and a county coroner.

Students then spent several weeks learning the finer points of collecting and analyzing evidence, everything from lifting fingerprints to analyzing handwriting.

Central Junior High School ninth-graders, from left, behind the couch, Tiffany Lockett, Kyleigh Haggard and Ben Smith, gather evidence while investigating a mock crime scene as part of a unit in their advanced biology class. The forensic science unit was possible through a Lawrence Schools Foundation grant and provided the young crime scene investigators with knowledge on blood typing, fingerprinting, DNA and handwriting analysis. Teams of investigators worked three scenes of a kidnapping, murder and a possible murder or suicide Wednesday in the school auditorium.

Wednesday morning it was time to put their knowledge to the test. They investigated a kidnapping, a decomposing body found in a renovated school building and a murder, staged to look like a suicide, which didn’t fool the students.

“They said it was a suicide, but we’re not exactly sure,” Haggard said. “There are some signs of struggle, like around his neck he has marks. There was a suicide note with blood on it, but we’re doubting it was from him.”

While their classmates collected trace evidence from the three crime scenes, several other ninth-graders spent the morning questioning eight suspects, including the school’s custodian and vice principal.

“They’re collecting fingerprints and hair samples from each of the teachers to compare to what they find in their (crime) scenes,” Lawrence Police Officer Don Hicks said.

Hicks serves as Central’s school resource officer and helped Shipley with the project.

“I think having school resource officers in the schools is giving the kids a chance to see us in a different light, and anytime we can get involved in a class like this, it’s a great experience for the police officers and the students,” he said.

6News video: Junior High students learn to investigate crime scenes CBS’s CSI site

He was also pleased with how serious the students were taking the exercise.

“They’re doing wonderful,” Hicks said. “I had a kid show me a crime scene sketch a little bit ago, and it was fantastic. They’re putting their all into it.”

The students said they found the crime scene investigation work more interesting than their normal biology lessons. The unit even sparked interest in a possible career for a few students.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for a while,” Brianne Weber said as she was bagging evidence.

After briefing with Central Junior High School ninth-graders, school resource officer Don Hicks leads the class of advanced biology students to the school auditorium and the scene of three crimes. The class investigated the mock crime scenes Wednesday as part of a unit in their advanced biology class. The unit was possible through a Lawrence Schools Foundation grant and provided the young crime scene investigators with knowledge on blood typing, fingerprinting, DNA and handwriting analysis.

From left, Central Junior High School ninth-graders, Tiffany Lockett, Abby Vestal, Ben Kincaid and Kyleigh Haggard, investigate a mock crime scene as part of a unit in their advanced biology class.

Central Junior High School ninth-graders investigate a mock crime scene as part of a forensic science unit in their advanced biology class. In the unit, inspired by the hit television show C.S.I., the students examined three mock crime scenes Wednesday at the school.