Forensic Science and History Combine to Show how 17th-Century Colonists Lived—and Died
Booz Allen’s learning tools and visual storytelling support a fascinating Smithsonian exhibit that provides insight into past lives.
Scheduled to open February 2009, an innovative exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) will use forensic anthropology and interactive technology to provide clues as to what life was like 400 years ago.
Called “Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th Century Chesapeake,” the exhibit will provide insights about the former residents of the Chesapeake Bay area through analysis of skeletons uncovered in recent years. Visitors will act like forensic investigators, exploring the virtual burial site of a skeleton and discovering what the bones reveal about that person, including ethnicity, age, gender, diet, cause of death, and more.
To extend the exhibit’s educational outreach, Booz Allen Hamilton is developing innovative Web-based educational materials that feature an online storytelling format. The learning materials will explore the forensic data of one skeleton featured in the exhibit—the Leavy Neck boy, whose skeleton was discovered by archeologists in a 350-year-old basement in Anne Arundel County, Maryland in the 1990s.
The interactive visual storytelling approach used for the “Written in Bone” story combines graphic novel techniques and interactive video-based training. This approach allows users to answer questions and obtain additional information upon request.
Senior associate and project manager Tony DeMarinis says the learning materials will enhance NMNH’s Web presence and its e-learning and distance-learning capabilities. “To reach out to schoolchildren, the suite of tools and state-of-the-art instructional techniques will conform to national education standards in history and science so they can be used by teachers.” The materials will be completed by summer 2008.
“Discovering the past enriches the present,” says Robert Costello, NMNH digital media coordinator. “As an innovative way to investigate remains, forensic anthropology can provide great insight into the lives of individuals and the communities they lived in.
“More broadly, this project will teach the process of scientific inquiry and science as a human endeavor,” he adds. “The human skeleton is at the core of the evidence, so visitors will learn a good deal about it and how it records aspects of not only death, but also life.”
Graphic novels are distinguished from comic books by their standalone narratives and sequential art and text, while comics are usually directed to children. Examples of classic graphic novels include Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight.
Although visual storytelling via the Web is relatively new, paper-based visual storytelling using comic books and graphic novels has been used for effective instruction for decades. Booz Allen is breaking new ground, however, in adapting this format to the Web, especially in an educational context.
Extending Education Beyond Geographic Boundaries
While the exhibit will focus on the application of forensics in a historic context, Booz Allen’s learning materials concentrate on the history of one boy and use forensic techniques as a vehicle to recreate history.
The main character of the online graphic novel—a college intern—will discover new information about the remains each week. Users will help the intern make decisions about the findings and will have available scientific data and supplemental history and science lessons to help identify the remains and determine cause of death.
For example, isotopes in bones can indicate a person’s diet, so users will have access to a supplemental lesson on isotopes. After findings have been explored, summary screens will conclude the investigation and provide an opportunity for users to hypothesize on the identity of the skeleton based on the findings.
Both the exhibit and learning materials are debuting at a time when interest in forensic investigation is high among children and adults alike. This type of online content is especially popular with the exhibit’s target audience, grades 9 – 12, and increasingly attracts young people of both genders.
Use of the Web with the learning materials will help disseminate forensic anthropology to classrooms and independent learners, and extend education beyond the walls of the Smithsonian. “The team also provided NMNH with a marketing plan,” says DeMarinis.
Both organizations found the project very gratifying. “It may seem that Booz Allen is assisting NMNH, but in fact the NMNH educational and exhibit staff have been our partners, investing their skills, time, energy, and passion for learning, and working side-by-side with us from the start,” DeMarinis says.
Costello agrees. “Booz Allen shows the same enthusiasm and commitment for the project as NMNH staff, and there is mutual professional trust and appreciation for the individuals involved and their experience. This is critical to having a successful partnership. The two groups also have different yet complementary skill sets. Booz Allen brought their unique brand of creative design, Web development, and project management expertise to the project, particularly in the graphic novel genre.”
story posted February 26, 2008
