Hair & Fiber Analysis, Forensic Botany
Forensic Science
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Literacy / Driving Question Board Connections
Nonfiction Science Literacy Resources
Graphic Organizers / Thinking Maps
Driving Question Boards
Multilingual Learner Language Expectations
Chapter 3 Scenario - New Hair Analysis Technique Helps with Human Identification
In 2000, a human skull with long blonde hair, 26 human bones, and a plastic bag containing a shirt and necklace were discovered by hunters walking along the shores of the Great Salt Lake (UT). Forensic investigators searched missing person reports, reviewed bone and dental records analyses, and posted reconstructed facial sketches with descriptions of personal effects in an effort to identify this person.
Chapter 3 Introduction
An investigator finds a natural blond hair at a crime scene. She thinks that it might help solve her case. What information could be gained from analysis of that hair? What are the limitations of the information that hair can provide?
Chapter 4 Scenario - A Thread of Evidence
In the 1980s, a string of murders left the African American youth of Atlanta in a state of fear. For 11 months, someone was kidnapping and disposing of murder victims in and around Atlanta’s poor neighborhoods. The victims were asphyxiated either by rope or by smothering, and the bodies were disposed of in dumpsters or wooded areas. Although the police had no suspects, they were gathering a collection of unusually shaped fibers from the victims. When the fiber evidence hit the news, the bodies began to turn up in the river.
Chapter 4 Introduction
Fibers are used in forensic science to create a link between a suspect or a victim and a crime scene, or with another person or object. Since we wear clothes, we shed fibers. As we walk on carpet, sit on couches, or pull on a sweater, fibers will fall off and may be transferred. Check your clothes: you likely have many fibers from your home or family on you right now. The crime-scene investigator looks for these small fibers that betray where a suspect has been and with whom they have been in contact.
Chapter 5 Scenario - Season of Death
Pollen is released by different plants at different times of the year, and pollen can survive for many years. Pollen and spore evidence can be important clues in determining a crime’s location and time of occurrence. These tiny clues can even unlock murders of the past.
Chapter 5 Introduction
Plants are the silent witnesses to crimes. Because plants are all around us, we overlook them and fail to see their significance in solving crimes. Approximately 400,000 different living plant species provide multiple sources of evidence from macroscopic wood, twigs, seeds, pinecones, fruits, flowers, roots, and stems to the microscopic forms of pollen, spores, and algal cells. Crime-scene investigators (CSIs) must be trained to look for and collect botanical evidence.
Unit Standards
What is the NGSS & 3 Dimensional Science Learning and Why is it Important?
Science Practices - Disciplinary Core Ideas - Crosscutting Concepts
HS-LS1-1: Genes, Proteins, and Tissues
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.
Clarification Statement: none
Boundary Statement: Assessment does not include identification of specific cell or tissue types, whole body systems, specific protein structures and functions, or the biochemistry of protein synthesis.
HS-LS1-2: Interacting Body Systems
Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms. (Systems and System Models)
Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on functions at the organism system level such as nutrient uptake, water delivery, and organism movement in response to neural stimuli. An example of an interacting system could be an artery depending on the proper function of elastic tissue and smooth muscle to regulate and deliver the proper amount of blood within the circulatory system.
Boundary Statement: Assessment does not include interactions and functions at the molecular or chemical reaction level.
HS-LS3-1: Chromosomal Inheritance
Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring. (Cause and Effect)
Clarification Statement: none
Boundary Statement: Assessment does not include the phases of meiosis or the biochemical mechanism of specific steps in the process.
HS-LS3-3: Variation and Distribution of Traits
Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population. (Scale, Proportion, and Quantity)
Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the use of mathematics to describe the probability of traits as it relates to genetic and environmental factors in the expression of traits.
Boundary Statement: Assessment does not include Hardy-Weinberg calculations.
HS-PS1-1: Valence Electrons and Properties of Elements
Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms.
Clarification Statement: Examples of properties that could be predicted from patterns could include reactivity of metals, types of bonds formed, numbers of bonds formed, and reactions with oxygen.
Boundary Statement: Assessment is limited to main group elements. Assessment does not include quantitative understanding of ionization energy beyond relative trends.
HS-PS1-8: Fission, Fusion, and Radioactive Decay
Develop models to illustrate the changes in the composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during the processes of fission, fusion, and radioactive decay. (Energy and Matter)
Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on simple qualitative models, such as pictures or diagrams, and on the scale of energy released in nuclear processes relative to other kinds of transformations.
Boundary Statement: Assessment does not include quantitative calculation of energy released. Assessment is limited to alpha, beta, and gamma radioactive decays.
HS-PS4-1: Wave Properties in Various Media
Use mathematical representations to support a claim regarding relationships among the frequency, wavelength, and speed of waves traveling in various media. (Cause and Effect)
Clarification Statement: Examples of data could include electromagnetic radiation traveling in a vacuum and glass, sound waves traveling through air and water, and seismic waves traveling through the Earth.
Boundary Statement: Assessment is limited to algebraic relationships and describing those relationships qualitatively.
HS-PS4-5: Waves and Information Technology
Communicate technical information about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy. (Cause and Effect)
Clarification Statement: Examples could include solar cells capturing light and converting it to electricity; medical imaging; and communications technology.
Boundary Statement: Assessments are limited to qualitative information. Assessments do not include band theory.
Learning Objectives / Career Connections
By the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
Chapter 3
3.1 Explain why hair serves as a valuable source of evidence.
3.2 Describe how techniques in the analysis of hair have changed throughout the course of history.
3.3 Discuss the structure and functions of hair.
3.4 Describe the various characteristics of human hair.
3.5 Compare the structure of nonhuman hair to human hair.
3.6 Describe how to properly collect hair evidence from a crime scene.
3.7 Discuss what information can be learned from forensic hair analysis using microscopic, chemical,
and DNA testing.
3.8 Identify two recent advances in hair analysis.
3.9 Analyze microscopic images of hair.
3.10 Estimate the diameter of hair viewed under a microscope.
3.11 Determine if two different strands of hair are consistent or inconsistent.
Chapter 4
4.1 Discuss the relationship between fibers, yarns, and textiles and how they can serve as a valuable
source of trace evidence.
4.2 Discuss how forensic analysis of fibers has changed to improve both the reliability and validity of
fiber evidence.
4.3 Differentiate between natural and synthetic fibers in terms of their composition, uses, and examples.
4.4 Describe the characteristics of fibers, yarns, and textiles and how they provide scientific evidence in
a forensic investigation.
4.5 Identify ways in which fibers and textiles can be properly collected from a crime scene.
4.6 Discuss the methods by which fibers can be examined, including microscopic, physical, and
chemical analysis.
4.7 Discuss what a forensic scientist needs to consider in evaluating the value of fiber evidence.
4.8 Identify recent advances in technology that have improved the analysis and reliability of fiber
evidence.
4.9 Analyze textile and fiber evidence collected from a crime scene to determine if there is consistency
with textile and fiber evidence collected from a suspect.
4.10 Calculate the thread count of textile samples based on the number of warp and weft threads found in
the samples.
Chapter 5
5.1 Identify different sources of botanical evidence and the reasons why it is an important form of
evidence.
5.2 Describe the history of forensic botany in crime-scene investigation, including several cases that
contributed to its acceptance as evidence in the United States.
5.3 Explain the science behind forensic palynology, and other botanical fields of evidence, and how they
contribute to the evaluation of a crime scene.
5.4 Discuss the characteristics of botanical evidence and cases where forensic botany is instrumental in
solving a crime.
5.5 Describe the correct procedure for processing a crime scene for botanical evidence, including how to
properly conduct habitat sampling, and collect, document, package, and store the evidence.
5.6 Summarize how botanical evidence can be analyzed by forensic scientists.
5.7 Identify recent advances in technology that have improved the analysis of botanical evidence.
5.8 Process a crime scene for botanical evidence.
5.9 Analyze botanical evidence from a crime scene.
5.10 Prepare expert witness testimony based on botanical evidence from a crime scene using scientific
facts to support your claims.
Using ChatGPT to find local Colorado Phenomena
Use the following prompt, adjust accordingly. "I am a high school science teacher looking for a local Colorado phenomena to address NGSS standard (enter standard you are looking for... example HS-LS1-6)"
Career Connections
Connecting what students are learning to careers not only deepens their engagement in school but also helps them make more informed choices about their future. Browse the following related career profiles to discover what scientists really do on the job and what it takes to prepare for these careers. For additional profiles visit your Year at a Glance Page.
Hands On, Minds On Connections
St Vrain Science Center
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