Concepts: Students will: - Identify and describe the purpose of the lab equipment used in the course.
- Use a compound light microscope to magnify images too small to see with the naked eye.
- Explain why observation skills are important to forensic investigators.
- Use deductive reasoning to synthesize a situation where only partial information is known.
- Create an argument for and against the use of eyewitness testimony in crime scene investigation.
- Understand and evaluate the purpose of the Innocence Project.
- Follow appropriate steps and procedures when working a crime scene.
- Secure and package evidence according to the Chain of Custody.
- Choose the appropriate search pattern when investigating a crime scene.
- Use appropriate procedures when taking crime scene photographs.
- Explain how evidence moves from the crime scene to the courtroom.
- Define basic criminology and judicial terms.
- Compare and contrast the Daubert Ruling and the Frye Standard as they relate to the field of Forensics.
- Explain how Forensics has changed over time and how new technological advances have shaped Forensics today.
Standards: SFS1., SFS2. | Concepts: Students will: - Identify the anatomical structure of hair and explain how macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of hair can be used in crime scene investigation.
- Evaluate the significance of hair evidence found at a crime scene.
- Explain the difference between mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA as it pertains to hair.
- Solve a case using hair specimens.
- Identify various types of fibers and explain how microscopic properties of fibers can be used in crime scene investigation.
- Test fibers using a burn analysis to determine the identity of an unknown fiber.
- Classify fingerprints found at a crime scene.
- Identify minutiae patterns found in an unknown fingerprint and compare those patterns to minutiae patterns of a suspect print.
- Solve a crime using fingerprint analysis and appropriate lifting techniques.
- Construct an explanation of DNA’s significance to the field of Forensics and evaluate its use in solving crimes.
- Follow procedures for extracting and processing DNA through the process of gel electrophoresis.
- Read DNA profiles and compare them to suspect DNA profiles.
- Describe how DNA has evolved over the past thirty years and understand how this evolution connects to the work of the Innocence Project.
- Explain how serological evidence can be significant in solving crimes.
- Test and identify blood samples and determine the blood type of those samples.
- Design an experiment to test the effect that gravity and height has on falling blood.
- Use mathematical formulas to calculate the angle at which a blood stain strikes a surface.
- Compare blood stain patterns at different velocities, heights, with different weapons, and on different surfaces.
- Analyze and interpret blood stains found at a crime scene.
- Identify different characteristics of firearms and cartridges as they pertain to ballistics.
- Draw evidence from striation patterns, breech markings, and firing pin patterns and explain their significance in different scenarios.
- Explain how arson investigators determine if an arson crime has occurred.
Standards: SFS2, SFS3 | Concepts: Students will: - Explain the role of a forensic toxicologist.
- Classify common drugs according to schedules (as outlined by the Controlled Substances Act).
- Identify the presence of an unknown drug sample through lab testing.
- Describe the effects of alcohol on the human body.
- Construct an argument for the definition of death and defend your position using a real life case study.
- Explain the stages of decomposition and how characteristics of the body at each stage can assist investigators in determining time of death.
- Calculate approximate time of death, given information about livor, rigor and algor mortis.
- Conduct an autopsy on a fetal pig to determine cause and manner of death.
- Illustrate the blowfly life cycle and explain how each stage of a blowfly’s life cycle can assist forensic investigators in determining post mortem interval.
- Design and construct an experiment that studies blowflies at their different life cycle stages.
- Explain how features of the skull can be used to identify an unknown individual whose skeletal remains are found.
- Identify parts of the pelvic bone that can be used to determine biological sex.
- Calculate the height of an unknown individual whose skeletal remains are found.
- Explain how advancements in technology are able to help forensic anthropologists determine the identity of unidentified skeletal remains.
Standards: SFS4., SFS5 |