REAL HUMAN SKULLS: FGCU program allows middle school students hands on education

These are real human skulls.

What is in the video are either casts of human remains obtained from museums and medical supply companies or human remains donated from the legal next of kin.

They were donated to science to help researchers better understand how to solve criminal cases. FGCU's Emergent Technologies Institute and Whitaker Center hosts middle school aged children to learn forensics each summer.

Savanna Agilar and Micki Besse are two course instructors with forensic science degrees and concentrations in
human identity and trauma analysis.

"All of the work that we do in our outreach programs are meant to help practitioners and participants better understand the criminal justice system more holistically," Besse said.

She says examining bone trauma can help identify bodies in court cases and investigations.

Alexia Shand Manzano is one of the applicants who was accepted to participate in the summer program.

"Something that I've learned that's surprised me would probably be that we had access to real skulls. I thought there would mostly be replicas here," she said.

Many of the students are looking forward to careers in the STEM field and others are still working to figure out what they want to pursue.

"I've learned a lot of things about the skull, the different points on the skull and the different bones that make up the cranium," Calvin Snyder, another program attendee said.

"They're 3d modeling, and they're using measurement tools, and various methods of analysis to solve a problem," Heather Skaza Acosta, director of the Whitaker Center for STEM Education said.

That's the point... providing these young learners insight into the forensics field, as they make decisions on what they'll study in higher education.