Course title

Pre-requisite

Course description

Forensics
Spring; 2010
Textbook: "Forensic Science: Fundamentals & Investigations"; by Bertino & Bertino

Jan. 4 ? Policies & procedures; intro to class.
Jan. 5 ? Observational skills (Ch. 1)(Lab requiring observation & identification of a suspect)
Jan. 6 ? Procedures quiz; ?"The Art of Crime Detection" (virtual lab on suspect sketching software)
Jan. 7 ? Seven S?s of crime scene investigation; Locard's exchange principle; trace evidence (Ch. 2) (Lab involving producing a scaled sketch of a crime scene)
Jan. 8 ? Evaluating a crime scene & handling of evidence; finish computer activities
Jan. 11 ? Mini-Test on Ch. 1 & Ch. 2. Intro to hair; Animal hair lab (Microscopic comparison of human hair and a variety of animal hair)
Jan. 12 - Hair lab (Activity 3-1)((Microscopic comparison and matching of a variety of human hair)
Jan. 13 - Hair lab (Activity 3-2 modified)(Lab - Microscopic calculation of hair width). Case studies if time.
Jan. 14 - Hair testimony essay (Activity 3-3).
Jan. 15 - Hair quiz. Case studies & careers
Jan. 18 - No School ? Martin Luther King; Jr.
Jan. 19 - Intro to fibers; and intro fiber lab. (Microscopic identification of properties of a variety of natural and synthetic fibers)(Ch. 4)
Jan. 20 ? Wayne Williams case study
Jan. 21 - Microscopic fiber & weave pattern analysis lab (Lab - Microscopic comparison of properties of various textiles) (Activities 4-1 & 4-3)
Jan. 22 - Burn analysis of fibers lab (Destructive identification tests of fibers including flammability and solubility in various solvents).(Activity 4-5) DRESS
Jan. 25 - Textile identification lab (Microscopic identification of weave pattern)(Activity 4-3/4-4 modified).
Jan. 26 - Fiber quiz. Intro to pollen & spores; introductory pollen lab (Microscopic examination of collected pollen and spores)(Ch. 5)?
Jan. 27 - Case studies & careers - Otzi
Jan. 28 - Pollen Examination (Microscopic comparison and matching of pollen samples)(Activity 5-1).
Jan. 29 - Intro to soil (Ch. 12); begin Soil Profile Examination (Lab determining various properties of soil including density; permeability; particle size; and chemical composition)
Feb. 1 - Finish Soil Profile. Chemical & Physical Analysis of Sand (Activity 12-3) DRESS (Lab determining various properties of sand including percent composition of various minerals and particle size)
Feb. 2 - Catchup/review
Feb. 3 -? Unit Test; case studies & careers
Feb. 4 - Guest speaker from FBI.
Feb. 5 - Intro to fingerprints (Ch. 6); print ten-cards (Activity 6-4)(Lab producing fingerprint ten-cards and analyzing them)
Feb. 8 - Fingerprint lab (Activities 6-5 & 6-6; and additional as time permits). (Lab using a variety of modern techniques to detect; collect; and analyze latent prints)
Feb. 9 - Complete fingerprint lab; case studies & careers. (Activity 6-3 modified)
Feb. 10 - Fingerprint quiz. (very short day - district PLC)
Feb. 11 - Intro to DNA fingerprinting (Ch. 7).
Feb. 12 - Virtual PCR lab; virtual gel electrophoresis lab; web-based activities
Feb. 15 - No School ? President?s Day
Feb. 16 - Gel electrophoresis lab; DNA practice activities (Activities 7-4; 7-5; 7-6) DRESS
Feb. 17 - ?The Killer's Trail?
Feb. 18 - DNA quiz. Intro to blood composition and types (Lab - blood typing using simulated blood)(Ch. 8)
Feb. 19 - Presumptive test for blood (Activity 8-1) (Lab using Kastle-Meyer test to detect presence of blood
Feb. 22 - Begin Blood Spatter Analysis (Activity 8-3) and Blood-Spatter Impact Angle (Activity 8-4) (Inquiry lab using trigonometry to determine height from which blood fell; and angle of impact)
Feb. 23 - AIMS Writing. Analyze blood spatter results.
Feb. 24 - AIMS Reading. Analyze blood spatter results; case studies & careers
Feb. 25 - Area of Convergence (Activity 8-5) (lab using multiple spatter patterns to determine point of origin of blood spatter); case studies
Feb. 26 - Point of Origin (Activity 8-6) and Crime Scene Investigation (Activity 8-7)?
Mar. 1 - Blood spatter analysis case (comprehensive lab applying all previously learned blood analysis techniques)
Mar. 2 - Discuss case findings. ? Forensic animation.
Mar. 3 - Catchup/review
Mar. 4 - Unit test; discuss test
Mar. 5 - Personal choice project (Activity to produce a webpage on a Forensics-related topic of choice that is not addressed in detail in the course)
Mar. 8 - Personal choice project
Mar. 9 - Projects shared
Mar. 10 - Review for finals.
Mar. 11 - Final exams.
Mar. 12 - Final exams.
Mar. 22 - What is death? Autopsies. (Ch.11) (Lab activity using an actual coroner report to plot injuries and determine whether a person was a passenger or driver in a vehicle)
Mar. 23 - Time of death (Activities 11-1 & 11-2). (Calculation-based lab activities using livor mortis; rigor mortis; and algor mortis data to determine time of death.)
Mar. 24 - Forensic entomology; estimate time of death from insect evidence (Addtl. Activity 11-1) (Calculation-based lab activities using insect life cycles and accumulated degree hours to determine time of death)
Mar. 25 - Conclude remaining activities
Mar. 26 - Forensic Entomology Research
Mar. 29 - Entomology Murder Lesson (Applying learned material to actual lab data collected by the University of Tennessee.
Mar. 30 - Stomach Content lab (Lab analyzing mock stomach contents for composition using basic testing for presence of organic molecules and microscopic examination of larger particles)
Mar. 31 - AIMS Math (No class)
Apr. 1 - AIMS Science. Write up stomach lab.
Apr. 2 ?- Holiday - No School
Apr. 5 - Intro to forensic anthropology (Ch. 13); determining gender & body size (Activities 13-1; 13-2 & 13-4) (Lab using Foam Bones and other printed data to determine gender and height from bones)
Apr. 6 - ?No Bones About It? & ?What the Bones Tell Us? (Activity 13-6 & ?No Bones?)
Apr. 7 - ?The Romanovs? & (Activities 13-3); & facial reconstruction
Apr. 8 - Review/Catchup
Apr. 9 - Unit Test
Apr. 12 - Intro to glass (Ch. 14); calculate density (Activity 14-2 modified) (Lab)
Apr. 13 - The refractive index (Activity 14-4 modified)? (Lab - Using Snell's Law and solvents to determine the refractive index of known and unknown samples of glass)
Apr. 14 - Glass fracture patterns (Activity 14-1)
Apr. 15 - Glass quiz; Shoe prints (Ch. 15); cast shoeprints (lab)
Apr. 16 - Examine casts; Tire prints; (Activity 15-4; part B); demo drag sled
Apr. 19 - Edheads Accident Reconstruction (virtual lab); ?Examining Lamps for On/Off?; begin ?Reconstructing a Murder by Automobile?
Apr. 20 - ?Reconstructing a Murder by Automobile? (Paper-based lab using actual accident report data and Physics equations to reconstruct an accident)
Apr. 21 - Finish automobile collision; Case studies & careers.
Apr. 22 - Dental impressions (Activity 15-5)(Lab creating and comparing dental impressions)
Apr. 23 - Catchup/review
Apr. 26 - Unit test; begin CSI webquest or Nova (bombing/plane crash investigations)
Apr. 27 - CSI webquest (Virtual lab combining a variety of previously discussed techniques)
Apr. 28 ? Finish CSI webquest; Helle Crafts case
Apr. 29 - Tool marks (Ch. 16); identifying tool marks (Activities 16-1 & 16-2)(Lab producing; comparing; and analyzing tool marks using Mikrosil)
Apr. 30 - Finish tool marks
May 3 - Intro to ballistics; firing pin match (Activity 17-2) (lab based on photos)
May 4 - FirearmsID.com activities (virtual labs using comparison microscopes to match casings and firing pin marks)
May 5 - Bullet trajectory case studies (Lab using fake holes in wall and trajectory rods to determine point of origin)
May 6 - Bullet trajectory; cont. (Activity 17-1). Catchup/review
May 7 - Unit Test
May 10 - Crime Scene Project; initial investigation. (Lab - summative project - students visit a mock crime scene & use all previously learned techniques to collect evidence & request testing)
May 11 - Crime Scene Project; lab analysis (Lab - students make decisions about what lab tests to perform based on evidence collected; and then run and analyze the results of these tests)
May 12 - Discuss test; Case studies & careers if time.
May 13 - Crime Scene Project; computer lab for write up
May 14 - Crime Scene Project Presentations
May 17 - Review for final exams
May 18 ? Senior final exams (review for final exams)
May 19 - Final Exams
May 20 - Final Exams

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• LINT
• Integrated science

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Online / Virtual