Forensic Science resources

[chocolate-chip chooky]

I'm thinking that forensic science could be an interesting unit to study.

Can you suggest any textbooks, narrative non-fiction books, relevant novels, MOOCs, online courses, documentaries etc?

My daughter is 12 and has a solid foundation in science and maths.

Thanks heaps for your help :)

[Farrar]

The guy who teaches the Forensic Science classes on Outschool is good. Thomas Jones. He can get a little gruesome talking about crime, but nothing too bad. They're very affordable. He sells a kit to go with the class for labs.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Thanks Farrar. I'll have a look at Outschool. We're in Australia, so timing of classes could be interesting :)

 

ETA: I just looked it up. 1am our time :/   I wonder if there's ever a way to access content without taking part in live classes.

[Farrar]

So, no. I can tell you from ds having missed a couple that he's not great about providing the recording, though he did for one of them in the end. He was always on time for the actual class and super interesting, but a little scatterbrained, I think. He was a really good teacher though. You could message him and see if he'll do it at a time that makes sense... um... there may not be one though. I forgot you were in Australia! Oops!

[nixpix5]

I like this one. It is interesting and fun for students. 

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/056259

[cintinative]

13 hours ago, nixpix5 said:

I like this one. It is interesting and fun for students. 

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/056259

 

This is what I am planning to use as my core as I plan a co-op class for next year for Forensic Science.

There is another website a boardie mentioned with a lot of resources: http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classforsci.html  There is so much here you almost don't need a book.

Also, depending on your time and interest, there is an Illustrated Guide to Home Forensic Science Experiments that you can get a free pdf download for here: https://archive.org/details/Illustrated_Guide_to_Home_Forensic_Science_Experiments_All_Lab_No_Lecture_Diy_Sc  This one seems more advanced in terms of content than the others, if that helps. I might pull something from it for my class, but a lot of it seems beyond what I want to try with a mixed group of middle schoolers (my class is for 5th-8th grade).

 

I'd love to trade ideas--I have barely started planning.  My class will be one semester (at least that is the current plan--it might change to a full year).  I usually make a spreadsheet to plan out week by week including the supplies needed, etc.

 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

8 hours ago, cintinative said:

 

This is what I am planning to use as my core as I plan a co-op class for next year for Forensic Science.

There is another website a boardie mentioned with a lot of resources: http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classforsci.html  There is so much here you almost don't need a book.

Also, depending on your time and interest, there is an Illustrated Guide to Home Forensic Science Experiments that you can get a free pdf download for here: https://archive.org/details/Illustrated_Guide_to_Home_Forensic_Science_Experiments_All_Lab_No_Lecture_Diy_Sc  This one seems more advanced in terms of content than the others, if that helps. I might pull something from it for my class, but a lot of it seems beyond what I want to try with a mixed group of middle schoolers (my class is for 5th-8th grade).

 

I'd love to trade ideas--I have barely started planning.  My class will be one semester (at least that is the current plan--it might change to a full year).  I usually make a spreadsheet to plan out week by week including the supplies needed, etc.

 

Wish we were nearby to come to your class. 

 

Thanks heaps for the resource ideas. The website looks amazing and that book of experiments is fabulous.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

20 hours ago, nixpix5 said:

I like this one. It is interesting and fun for students. 

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/056259

 

Thank you! That's now on my wishlist.

Did you jump right into the labs book? Or did you use a textbook or a course alongside it? 

I saw this on Rainbow Resources: http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=003094  Have you used this one?

 

It's pretty pricey getting things shipped to Australia, so I need to think through all my options.

Thanks heaps for your suggestion.

 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

I'm certainly happy to trade ideas 

My situation is quite different to your co-op though. It's just me and my 12 year old following our interests at our own pace and to whatever length and depth it gets to. At this point, I'm just gathering possible resources. I'll need to sift through them to ensure they are suitable for a 12 year old too.

So far, this is what I have on my maybe-we'll-use-it list:

- Blood, Bullets and Bones

- Great Courses: Forensic History

- From Rainbow Resources: Crime Scene Investigations and Forensic Science

- Sciencespot website (as linked above)

- Illustrated Guide to Home Forensic Science Experiments (as linked above)

- Textbook: Forensic Science for Highschools

- Forensic Casebook: https://www.amazon.com/Forensic-Casebook-Science-Crime-Investigation/dp/0345452038 

- Outschool class - but I can't see this working from a logistics point of view, unfortunately

- a MOOC maybe - still looking 

 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

There are question marks turning up where I've put a smiley. How odd. I've edited them out completely (hopefully I got them all), because it looked so wrong.

[cintinative]

I was originally going to use the linked book but I might also look at the Science Spot website for alternates or something easy to print (versus photocopying).  I am finding that a lot of it is similar between the two resources and there is actually a bit more on the Science Spot site. Some of her full color one page summaries are really great and I hope to use them for my class.

One thing not covered by my book (CSI: Real-Life Science Labs for Grades 6-12)  is entomology. I never would have thought of forensic entomology. I am pretty sure that some of the girls in my class would be majorly unhappy about me breeding maggots but the boys would think it was very cool. Overall though I don't think we'll get to that unit because of time--but if my class goes a full year then I might be able to play with it (maybe I'll used cooked rice grains as a stand in).  

I am already finding some issues with the book in that I have an older edition. Some of the shoe prints, etc. they want you to use (plus find another shoe that matches from the "gym" teacher) are not going to work. I don't think Nike's women's cross training shoes look the same as they did when this book came out. Also there are some labs that have to do with tire treads that I can't see being able to pull off easily. So I will be going through them all and screening for ones I think will work--this is my fourth year teaching science at co-op and I have definitely experienced the joy of labs that don't work as written.  (insert smiley)

Since we are doing a different science at home than at co-op, I am only planning on 50 minutes a week. I will let you know when I have a skeleton down in a spreadsheet and if there are any great finds along the way!  

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Thanks so much for all that info. It is much appreciated. I shall learn and benefit from your experiences! 

 

Oh wow, forensic entomology. That sounds fascinating! My daughter would happily go for real maggots. 

Now I need to go hunting for some entomology resources, because that sounds too good to ignore.

 

 

Edited because I already forgot that my smiley will turn into a question mark.   *sheepish*

[cintinative]

12 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

 

Now I need to go hunting for some entomology resources, because that sounds too good to ignore.

 

 

There are a bunch on the science spot site.  She links to many other sites also. 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

4 minutes ago, cintinative said:

 

There are a bunch on the science spot site.  She links to many other sites also. 

Fabulous. Thank you. I've only skimmed the site so far, so this is great to know.

[cintinative]

This one looks it has potential to be fun for an at home thing.  This was a link off the science spot site:

http://forensics.rice.edu/

[cintinative]

This is an entomology course I had to use Wayback machine to find.  

https://web.archive.org/web/20160605181030/http://www.clt.uwa.edu.au:80/asistm/forensic/entomology

[mumto2]

You might want to look at Coursera because Dd took a Forensic Science class from a Singapore University several years ago and really enjoyed it.  Pretty sure it’s one of the ones that has stayed in touch so it may still exist and it was free.

[Caprice]

I just logged on to the forum to look for forensic science resources! I'm trying to put something together for my 13yo ds either for the rest of this year or for next year (8th), depending on what I find and how into it he gets. So maybe a mini unit for the end of this year, through the end of June. Then if he's enthusiastic, we can go deeper next year.

I am looking into a lot of the great resources on this thread. The activity books look good but seem to be 10-20 years old. I wonder if anyone has found something newer. Or are there newer editions I'm not finding? My hunch would be that CSI technology has changed a lot in the last 10 years. 

Here's what I have in my notes so far:

http://forensicsciencesimplified.org

http://projects.nfstc.org/otc/

 

This youtube link is supposed to be to a playlist not just one video. Not sure if it came through as the playlist since I am on my phone.

Also I was thinking we would watch some CSI episodes to get our head in the game. It looks like you can watch season 9 on usanetwork.com. I've never actually watched it, though. Is it too gruesome?

 

eta: fixing links

[cintinative]

This magazine is free for teachers and they have some labs on their website here: 

http://www.theforensicteacher.com/Labs.html

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who is offering suggestions and links!

So many ideas and options now - where to start?? I think I'll probably start with something interest-grabbing. Maybe the CSI online game, or maybe the Blood, Bullets and Bones book. Then, depending on interest, I'd be keen to get into some of the sciencey nitty-gritty of it all. I'm so keen on the entomology! I hope my daughter is too.

 

We've never watched an episode of CSI. Any thoughts on suitability for a 12 year old? 

[cintinative]

54 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

 

We've never watched an episode of CSI. Any thoughts on suitability for a 12 year old? 

 

No idea, unfortunately. This might help?  https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/csi-crime-scene-investigation

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Snap! I was literally reading that when the notification of your post popped up on my screen.

 

Edited to remove the ? where the smiley should be.

[cintinative]

It looks like you can watch multiple seasons of "Forensic Files" If you have Amazon Prime.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A35HOU0?ref_=imdbref_tt_wbr_piv&tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_piv-20

I can't seem to find a rating for it, but since it involves reinactments, etc. it *might* not be like CSI??

 

ETA: Season 1 Episode 6 is called "Insect Clues"  If you don't have Prime, maybe check Youtube?

[chocolate-chip chooky]

I'm not too fussed about coarse language, and I'm not overly concerned about gruesome scenes. What I don't want my 12 yr old seeing is graphic rape scenes, for example.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

1 minute ago, cintinative said:

It looks like you can watch multiple seasons of "Forensic Files" If you have Amazon Prime.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A35HOU0?ref_=imdbref_tt_wbr_piv&tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_piv-20

I can't seem to find a rating for it, but since it involves reinactments, etc. it *might* not be like CSI??

Thanks for this.

I don't know if Amazon Prime is even a thing here in Australia. We do have Netflix Australia though, so I'll have a search on there. Thank you!

[chocolate-chip chooky]

5 minutes ago, cintinative said:

It looks like you can watch multiple seasons of "Forensic Files" If you have Amazon Prime.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A35HOU0?ref_=imdbref_tt_wbr_piv&tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_piv-20

I can't seem to find a rating for it, but since it involves reinactments, etc. it *might* not be like CSI??

 

ETA: Season 1 Episode 6 is called "Insect Clues"  If you don't have Prime, maybe check Youtube?

 

Yes, yes, yes! They're on Youtube. Woo hoo!!

[cintinative]

Aack. Just started watching that Episode 6 and in the first part "all the women were choked, s*xually molested . . ." Then it discusses the state of the bodies. Yikes.  Prescreen!

[chocolate-chip chooky]

3 minutes ago, cintinative said:

Aack. Just started watching that Episode 6 and in the first part "all the women were choked, s*xually molested . . ." Then it discusses the state of the bodies. Yikes.  Prescreen!

Thanks for the heads up.

[Clear Creek]

My youngest wants to study forensic science next year, so I am taking notes. I had planned to use this middle school textbook as a spine and supplement as needed.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

1 hour ago, Clear Creek said:

My youngest wants to study forensic science next year, so I am taking notes. I had planned to use this middle school textbook as a spine and supplement as needed.

Thank you for the link!

[cintinative]

Update:

I've got about 26 weeks planned (one hour/week) with two extra hours of catch up.  I am mostly using the CSI book linked above but I am replacing out the shoe lab with one I found online, and I am also replacing out the fingerprint lab. I did not want to use the method where you must use the aquarium to set the fingerprints on the glass. I am concerned about the mutiple warnings about fumes and "use a hood if you have it."  I believe the fingerprint lab I am using came from the Forensic teacher website I linked. 

Although there is an "order" to the experiments in the book, I am breaking from it a bit for various reasons, one being that some of the labs require us to be outside and if I schedule them where they would fall if we complete them in order, we would be outside in winter.  Also I am grouping some together just because I feel like it. For example, I am grouping the lipstick analysis (chromatography) with lip prints.  

How is it going with you chocolate-chip chooky?

 

[cintinative]

This was referenced within a reference in a faces misidentification document. It's really fun!  This photographer has found over 250 "look-alikes" worldwide and photographed them together. It's a fun way to introduce the discussion of how misidentifications happen.

http://www.francoisbrunelle.com/web/francois_brunelle_en.html

[chocolate-chip chooky]

I'm still waiting for our first book to arrive. Nothing comes quickly to Australia. The price we pay for living somewhere so lovely ? 

Your plans sound amazing!

 

Those Dopplegangers are fabulous. Thanks for the link.

 

Just for funsies and nothing to do with this thread, check out this: http://www.hamishandandy.com/2013/celebrity-doggelgangers/#&gid=1&pid=6 

Hamish and Andy are Australian comedians. Their doggelgangers are hilarious. Yes, doggelgangers. Dogs that look like celebrities. 

?

[geodob]

Coursera has a free online course: Introduction to Forensic Science. Here's a link to it:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/forensic-science

 

[cintinative]

This is an older thread but I just wanted to post this list of files I found today (ironic, since I am one class away from being done teaching this).

https://www.johnbowne.org/apps/classes/show_class.jsp?classREC_ID=618256

Tons of nice powerpoints and lab resources.