Extended Learning Opportunity sample
ELO Title: Introduction to Forensic Science
School: Strafford Learning Center’s ELO Hub
Essential question: How can forensic science aid in the investigation and litigation of crimes?
Area(s) of study: Science
Type & amount of credit: 1 credit science elective
1)Competencies: Students will understand current forensic techniques to analyze the characteristics of human and animal hair.
- Student will make observations about hair characteristics using microscopy techniques.
- Student will understand and compare medulla and scale patterns to identify species.
- Student will compare and contrast hair characteristics among different species.
2)Students will understand current techniques to analyze the characteristics of human blood, and blood spatter analysis, as well as DNA.
- Student will identify blood spatter patterns and how they relate to different types of crimes.
- Students will understand electro-phoresis techniques and how they separate and identify DNA markers
3)Students will understand how to analyze fingerprints through a variety of techniques, including impressions, inking, ninhydrin and super glue fuming.
- Students will demonstrate the ability to collect and analyze fingerprint inks.
- Students will demonstrate the ability to collect fingerprints through dusting, ninhydrin and super glue fuming.
4)Student will identify types of physical evidence that could be found at a crime scene and analyze their relevance to a crime.
- Student will understand what physical science is and how it is identified.
5)Students will understand how to process a crime scene, including collecting and packaging evidence.
- Students will demonstrate the ability to conduct a crime scene investigation which includes notes, diagrams, photography and evidence collection.
- Students will conduct a thorough analysis of evidence found at a crime scene.
Student Activities:
-Student visited two local police stations to learn about procedures for gathering evidence and how they do fingerprinting.
-Student learned about different methods for fingerprinting, and took fingerprints of teachers and peers in the classroom.
-Student visited the New Hampshire State Medical Examiner’s office to learn how autopsies are conducted. The student was only able to view some photos and reports, but she could not observe an actual autopsy.
-Student attended multiple days of a murder trial at the local court.
-Student conducted research on the differences between pet and human hair
-Student researched DNA structure and how and why it is used in some court cases and not others. She also did an experiment to extract DNA from a strawberry.
-Student wrote testimonies for numerous “witnesses” to a faux murder.
-Student stayed after school and used make up and other tools to create a fake murder scene, then took pictures of the scene to use as evidence in her final presentation.
-Student wrote a “closing argument” for the faux murder trial, then presented the argument to a “jury” of her family and peers.
-Student read through samples of actual police reports, then wrote her own police report for the faux murder which was the basis of her final project.
-Student’s final project was to give a “closing argument” in the faux murder case, where she rehashed all the evidence against the alleged “murderer.” She brought in all the types of evidence that she had learned about and why those pieces of evidence would lead to a conviction of the imaginary defendant.
Community Partner: Though we didn’t have an ongoing internship or volunteer opportunity, she worked with two law enforcement agencies, spent time at a murder trial locally, and had a 2 hour visit/tour with the NH Medical Examiner in Concord.
Assessment: The student was assessed on the competencies provided above. She showed competence through her small research based projects on some competencies, but she displayed that she had a firm grasp on the content through her final presentation, in which she did the closing arguments, touching on the relevance of all of the evidence she had created based off of what she learned.
Connection to the student’s measurable postsecondary goals: This didn’t fit well into her measurable goals, but this was a student who was mostly seeking to explore career options. She was initially interested in pursuing a job as a lawyer, but after the first day of listening to lawyers and witnesses talk about phone records, she decided that was not what she really wanted to do, she really wanted to get her hands dirty and uncover and analyze evidence to help prosecute criminals. So, although it didn’t specifically relate to any of her measurable goals, there was a lot of value for her in terms of transition.
Comments and suggestions for other Schools implementing a similar ELO: I wish she could have had more time and even an ongoing internship or volunteer opportunity with a local police department. I feel that she could have gotten into more depth about the minutia of investigating and gathering evidence if she had had that opportunity.
Are you willing to be contacted by another school interested in developing something similar to this?
Yes.