Forensics

The purpose of this course is to expose high school biology students to the biology lab skills commonly used during a forensics investigation. Students will acquire the lab skills of observation, microscopy, chromatography, and DNA gel electrophoresis (commonly referred to as DNA fingerprinting). They will also work in cooperative groups and prepare logical conclusions based on data. Additional topics would include crime scene analysis, eyewitness accounts, fingerprinting, trace evidence, impression evidence, blood evidence, arson investigations, and more! Students are commonly exposed to crime situations by the media, both of a fictional and real nature. Science is the cornerstone of forensics; it allows the forensic scientist to eliminate what is irrelevant, and to correctly interpret what is relevant. Science is basically what will decide (through its influence on a jury) that a guilty person goes to prison, and an innocent person will go free. By becoming involved in a simulated crime scene, they will see how the biology lab skills they have already learned can be applied in the real world.