forensic science resources (other than those in HS motherlode)?

[cintinative]

I was wondering if someone had completed forensic science more recently.  Some of the resources in the 2014/2015 threads are not available except via Wayback and/or the flash portion of the site does not work (e.g. GPB "text").

I saw Oak Meadow has a program and it looks good but $$$$$.  I wondered if I could buy the guide and use a text I pick and add labs from the Illustrated Guide to Forensic Science (with the kit from Home Scientist) without it being a total mess.  The text OM uses is $200 from them and not much cheaper on Amazon (still over $100).  

I am hoping for a yearlong course also, and the OM one is only a semester. I suppose I could just add labs but maybe it would be easier for me to just plan the whole thing than try to use OM as a spine?

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by cintinative

[Farrar]

Honestly, I'd just splurge and get the OM course. I'm sure it's good. All their science courses are good. You can probably get the components for the lab kit much cheaper, but I'd get the books. But this is one of those things where you'd save yourself a measly $100 and then midyear regret it.

[cintinative]

15 hours ago, Farrar said:

Honestly, I'd just splurge and get the OM course. I'm sure it's good. All their science courses are good. You can probably get the components for the lab kit much cheaper, but I'd get the books. But this is one of those things where you'd save yourself a measly $100 and then midyear regret it.

Any suggestions on how I could make it into a full year course? That is where I am a bit perplexed. Without seeing what they are skipping (if anything) in the textbook, the only thing I can think of is to add a ton of labs.  

[Farrar]

1 hour ago, cintinative said:

Any suggestions on how I could make it into a full year course? That is where I am a bit perplexed. Without seeing what they are skipping (if anything) in the textbook, the only thing I can think of is to add a ton of labs.  

I'd go the other way and add a bunch of documentaries and a couple of books. Surely there are some good crime nonfiction reads that focus on the forensic science out there. 

[cintinative]

This is just a note to anyone who might be reading this thread later. 

The new textbook associated with the Forensic Science course for Oak Meadow includes 6 years online access, however, the course does not utilize that, so it is not necessary to have the online access.

I looked at the kit that Oak Meadow provides as well as the list of things that the homeschool parent is supposed to provide.  There are several things on the parent list that are actually tricky to locate. I know this from experience because I taught a forensic science class years ago at co-op. One of them is finding five different fabrics (e.g. rayon, cotton, nylon, silk) that are all the same color, or at least close enough that the student can't tell they are different. I ended up having to order swatches from an online vendor for the silk.  The list on OM's site does not say they need to be the same color, but in the lab I completed previously, the student was supposed to identify the type of fiber from the crime scene by comparing it with stock samples and they all had to be the same color so it wasn't obvious which one it came from.  I noticed that The Home Scientist has a Forensic Science lab kit that includes fibers.  I have not done a detailed comparison of the two kits yet, but I might post back here if I do.

 

[SilverMoon]

It wasn't exactly recently, my 22yo used it in 10th grade, but we used the Forensic Science textbook by Saferstein. There was a basic online quiz that went with it (free). I skipped the instructor text. We used the home experiment guide mentioned, as well as a book aimed at younger kids that used more common household items. And we watched crime shows on the side.

She still thinks of that course quite fondly, and she's working in the field. 🙂