Last Saturday, I needed to occupy my 9-year old daughter's time so that she would not be watching Youtube all day. After browsing the Fort Upcoming Events page in this website, I brought her to The Mind Museum to take part in the CSI 101 Saturdays activity. 

It was good that I registered online, because the activity charged only P190. Walk-ins have to buy a Museum ticket. The activity required an adult companion for children below 12 years of age, but they did not require a ticket for the adult companion.

Two ladies in their twenties wearing grey lab coats were instructors for the activity. They led the participants to a small table near the entrance of the museum. 

After giving participants a brief description of the case, and a case file containing some information about the case, participants were told that they had 15 minutes to look for four clues in the ground floor exhibition area of The Mind Museum. The case was able a young man who went missing after going to work one day.

Photo: Participants were required to take measurements as well as photos. 

When that was done, we were led to the laboratory on the second floor to study the evidence. Participants were asked whether they thought the suspect was guilty, and if so, what evidence was there to support that view. Through this process, participants got to do some simple laboratory work, such as studying bite marks and calculating body height from the length of a bone found at a possible crime scene.

The most interesting one, for me, was to find out how blood type was determined. Two chemicals in liquid form were mixed with blood sample, and by looking at the appearance of the blood sample afterwards, and comparing them to a guide chart, one could tell which blood type a sample is supposed to belong. Well, that's the theory. Some how, everyone thought the blood sample belonged to type AB when in fact it was a different type. The lesson here is that lab test is not 100% reliable, especially if only one test is done!

Overall, this one hour activity was very educational, although I think more suited for grown up than children, as the case used was a gruesome murder with details that were a little disturbing to children. It was partly my fault as I did not read the full title of the activity, which was "Creepy Clown : Blood, Bones and Bite marks". We will most likely attend another workshop, but next time, I will be more careful!