ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. – Students from three local elementary schools put their smarts to the test Tuesday investigating a real world scenario.
A staged crash happened behind Golden Grove Elementary School. Fifth graders from K. E. Cunningham, Canal Point, and Golden Grove Elementary schools acted as investigators.
“We’re doing this crash scene investigation,” explained Haley Demayo. “It’s just a lesson on how did it happen and stuff like that.”
Students were broken into teams. Some focused on interviews, while others took crash scene photos. All students filled out crash reports detailing the evidence they gathered.
“We interviewed the witness and the people that were in the crash,” said Robert Perez. “We take down notes to see who's lying and who's not.”
“I document the cars and the people and the tires,” said Perryuana Warren.
After a thorough investigation, students think they may have figured out who caused this crash.
“The white car was going normal speed and then he crashed into the black car,” said Perez. “But it was the black car's fault because they ran a stop sign.”
“I think it was because the black car was turning and the white car was forward,” according to Demayo. “I guess the white car ran into the black car but I don't honestly know.”
“I think the black car ran into, ran the stop sign,” Warren said. “The white car tried to step on their brakes.”
Students think they have also figured out what the at fault driver was doing just before impact.
“Probably texting and driving,” said Demayo.
The staged crash scene allowed students to work side-by-side with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to learn how to collect and analyze evidence.