Tash Mahnokaren
Staff Writer
Christian Peterson is a lecturer for the Idaho State University Anthropology Department with a specialty in the human skeletal system.
He has a teaching and community outreach contract with the school.
In addition to teaching courses at the university, he also works with other public institutions when needed.
For his community outreach contract, Peterson contracts with the police departments to do forensic work, assists with the Idaho Museum of Natural History and occasionally teaches at high schools.
At ISU, Peterson has taught classes including General Anthropology, Human Osteology, Peoples of the South Pacific, and Human Evolution and Diversity.
He is currently in pursuit of his doctorate in education with a focus on teaching with technology.
Peterson also designs online courses for the university, in addition to updating ones already in place.
“For the department I am heading up, with one other faculty member, the online courses for the department,” said Peterson.
“We make sure the ones we have work very well and they meet national standards, so that we are doing right by the students,” he continued.
In his own research pursuits, Peterson is concerned with the concept of time-sensed death.
Also known as post mortem interval, Peterson’s research in focuses on determining how long a bone has been left out in a landscape.
Depending on environmental factors, when soft tissue wears off, the mere remains of skeletal material can give way to a variety of factors to an anthropological osteologist like Peterson.
These include whether the bone belongs to a human or animal, the gender and, of course, how long it has been left out.
Peterson does this work as part of his his contract with police departments.
“Furthermore, I periodically take classes in the other departments,” said Peterson.
In teaching a course such as General Anthropology, Peterson is required to lecture on several fields, including topics like psychology, general biology and human anatomy.
As education transitions more and more into an online focus, Peterson’s other research centers on the accuracy of online material in simulating the actuality of bone material.
While some courses do not pose many difficulties in the form of an online course, other courses, such as human anatomy, tend to be harder to simulate in an online setting.
The Idaho Virtualization Lab of the Idaho Museum of Natural History located on campus contains a variety of 3-D scans of bones and skeletal material.
These come in an easily accessible PDF format for anyone looking to access them.
Peterson’s question for his dissertation focuses on whether these virtual scans can emulate the experience of actually looking at these bones and other material.
“I am concerned with how effective they are. Are they surrogates? In an online class is it the same as looking at the real bone?” said Peterson.
As a student and a lecturer for the university, Peterson is able to experience both ends of the spectrum.
“It keeps me in the classroom and it allows me to remember a little bit of what it is like to be a student,” said Peterson.
“The student experience and instructor experience are totally different and it is easy to forget all the challenges that a student has,” he continued.
This allows Peterson to better assimilate with his students and design courses that tailor to their needs.
Peterson, a non-traditional student himself, holds great regard for the population of non-traditional students on campus.
Peterson said that having been out in the workforce, non-traditional students have a great appreciation for a college education.
