Forensic Science 2

Adopted June 4, 2024

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Grade(s): 11-12

Length: one semester

Credit: 0.5

Prerequisites: Teacher recommendation, or Forensic Science 1 and Geometry

Course Overview:

Forensic Science 2 is intended for the more serious forensic science students. They will build upon their forensic knowledge by investigating advanced forensic science techniques. Students will continue to apply the principles and techniques of science to analyzing crime scene evidence. Emphasis will be placed on both qualitative and quantitative engineering design, as well as aspects of the criminal justice system and the admissibility of evidence. Being familiar with human genetics and chemistry is preferred.

Adopted Textbook: Forensic Science Fundamentals and Investigations. Cengage.

Units

(Recommended Order)

Semester:

Forensic Psychology
Questioned Documents
Forensic Toxicology
Fire Science/Investigation
Tool Marks and Firearms/ Ballistics
Trace Evidence Analysis
Advanced DNA Analysis
Accident Reconstruction

Unit 1: Forensic Psychology

Suggested Pacing: 3 weeks

Textbook Chapters/Lessons:

Key Objectives:

Define and apply common legal terms.
Identify the roles of prosecuting and defense attorneys in court cases.
Explain how criminal profiling can be helpful in solving crimes.
Use an understanding of brain development, genetics, and environmental factors to explain risk factors of criminal behavior.
Identify behaviors associated with lying and truth-telling.

Suggested Activities & Resources:

Guest Speaker: Lawyer.
Watch/discuss videos on serial killers' behaviors.
Serial Killer Box Profile Gallery
Play Malarky and other lying behavior games.

Standards List: LS1.A: Structure and Function, HS-LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics LS2.D: Social Interactions and Group Behavior, GLEs: SA.1-3; SC.1-2; SF.1-3; SG.1-4

Unit 2: Questioned Documents

Suggested Pacing: 2 weeks

Textbook Chapters/Lessons: Chapter 10

Key Objectives:

Describe and demonstrate handwriting exemplars.
List some important guidelines to be followed in collecting known writing samples for use as comparisons with a questioned document.
Identify the major goals of a forensic handwriting analysis.
Identify several ways in which businesses prevent check forgery.
Identify real and counterfeit U.S. money.

Suggested Activities & Resources:

Handwriting Analysis Lab
Microscopic Examination of Currency
Expert Analysis of Representation in Media
Catch Me If You Can - Film/Book

Standards List: ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems, GLEs: SA.1-3; SF.1-3; SG.1-4

Unit 3: Forensic Toxicology

Suggested Pacing: 2 weeks

Textbook Chapters/Lessons: Chapter 9

Key Objectives:

Identify common drugs of abuse by description.
Describe the proper collection and preservation of drug evidence.
Describe the chemistry behind various ways of identifying and quantifying chemicals and drugs.
Explain the Controlled Substances Act.

Suggested Activities & Resources:

Guest Presenter: State Troopers & Fairbanks PD Officer
Flipbook of controlled substances
Identify (unknown) over-the-counter drugs using chemical and physical characteristics.

Standards List: HS-LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes, LS1.A: Structure and Function, HS-LS3: Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits, LS3.A: Inheritance of Traits, GLEs: SA.1-3; SB.1-2; SF.1-3; SG.1-4

Unit 4: Fire Science/Investigation

Suggested Pacing: 3 weeks

Textbook Chapters/Lessons:

Key Objectives:

Define the heat of combustion and ignition temperature.
Use the fire triangle to explain what elements are required for combustion.
Describe the characteristics and effects of Alaskan wildfires.
Identify the types of evidence left in a fire.
Describe how physical evidence is collected at the scene of a suspected arson.

Suggested Activities & Resources:

Testing the Fire Triangle.
Lab: Matchstick Forest.
Lab: Dollhouse Arson
Guest Speaker: Fire Marshal

Standards List: HS-PS1: Matter and Its Interactions, PS1.B: Chemical Reactions, GLEs: SA.1-3; SB.1; SF.1-3; SG.1-4

Unit 5: Tool Marks & Firearms/Ballistics

Suggested Pacing: 2 weeks

Textbook Chapters/Lessons: Chapter 18

Key Objectives:

Describe and identify types of tool mark impressions.
Explain how bullets are test-fired and matched.
Describe the characteristic of handguns, rifles, and shotguns and their ammunition.
List procedures for the proper collection and preservation of firearm and tool mark evidence.
Determine the position of the shooter based on bullet trajectory.
Describe the rifling on a gun barrel and how it affects the flight of projectiles.

Suggested Activities & Resources:

Lab: Match twist patterns of Bullets
Basics of Ballistics Booklet
Lab: NERF Dart Gun Ballistics

Standards List: HS-PS1: Matter and Its Interactions, PS1.B: Chemical Reactions

Unit 6: Trace Evidence Analysis

Suggested Pacing: 2 weeks

Textbook Chapters/Lessons:

Key Objectives:

Describe the properties of fibers that are most useful for forensic comparisons.
List the important forensic properties of soil
Describe the chemical components of paint.
Determine how denisty can help identify substances.
Describe the behavior of light as it travels through various substances.
Practice analyzing trace evidence including hairs, fibers, paints, coating explosive, fire residues, glass, and soil.

Suggested Activities & Resources:

Fiber identification using chemical and physical properties.
Fiber identification using microscopy.
Soil collections.
Glass density experiments.
Glass impact patterns.
Patterns of bullet holes.
Refractive index.

Standards List: HS-PS1: Matter and Its Interactions, PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter, GLEs: SA.1-3; SB.1-2; SF.1-3; SG.1-4

Unit 7: Advanced DNA Analysis

Suggested Pacing: 2 weeks

Textbook Chapters/Lessons:

Key Objectives:

Explain the differences between nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA.
Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.
Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.
Explain the training and technology requiredt o carry out current DNA analysis.

Suggested Activities & Resources:

Study how mitochondrial DNA was used to solve the Anny Anderson/Princess Anastasia mystery
Apply the mitochondria DNA technique to Argentina's missing children situation of the 1980's
Isolate DNA from bone and/or plant material.
Use pollen analysis to identify its source.

Unit 8: Accident Reconstruction

Suggested Pacing: 2 weeks

Textbook Chapters/Lessons: Chapter 16

Key Objectives:

Use physics to analyze the dynamics of a collision.
Use measurements, sketches, after-accident diagrams and photographs to systematically investigate traffic collisions.
Make scale drawings of the accident scene.
Determine blood alcohol content (BAC) from suspect's drinking history.

Suggested Activities & Resources:

Analysis of Skid Marks
Measure an accident scene and make a scale drawing.
Lab: Mario Kart Accident Reconstruction
Determine a suspect's BAC using drinking history and math formulas.

Standards List: HS-ETS1: Engineering Design, ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions, GLEs: SA.1-3; SB.4; SF.1-3; SG.1-4

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