Criminal spooking under the microscope: NIWA Wellington Science Fair age-class winner Josh Rippin
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
He saw red, his sister saw black. Wellesley College student Josh Rippin and his sister, 12 and 14 years-old respectively, were witness to a chaotic vandalism incident in February, and gave contradictory statements to the police. ?It got me thinking about why we saw different things. ?I said that [the vandals] were wearing red, but my sister said it was black,? said Josh. The resulting investigation into ?Children as eye witnesses? resulted in Josh being named as one of three NIWA Wellington Science Fair age-class winners from Year 7. Josh spoke with a Wellington police officer about the types of interviewing techniques they use, before testing his hypothesis on fellow students. ?I found that children are not very reliable eye witnesses. ?This is because they are not mature enough and have problems recalling the event,? he said. Looking into the reliability of children as wittiness to crime involved Josh coordinating simulated criminal incidents and testing students? recall of the crime. Four different groups of children, across two age-groups, were employed. The two different age groups that were given prior training in noting identifiable features did ?significantly better? than those without. Josh staged his investigations at mid-day, so the students ?weren?t too tired or hungry? and he blasted a ?dramatic? Valkyries soundtrack to rack up the suspense. ?They then had 90 seconds to look at a questionnaire and write what they saw.? He said a major factor in the outcome was that ?kids are easy to give ideas to, and they believe them?. He was ?pretty stoked? to be named as a ?Realise a Dream? award recipient along with three others at the science fair. The award brings together exceptional science students and gives them expert instruction from NIWA scientists along with training in management and media. Nearly 600 intermediate and secondary school students took part in the regional science fair. Chief Judge Gillian Turner from the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University said, ?The judges were impressed at the high level of scientific investigation undertaken by students from year 7 upwards, and were hard-pressed to choose the eventual prize-winners from so many excellent entrants?.
