Forensic Science Lesson Plans

A lesson plan is a teacher's detailed description of theStudents are expected to predict whether or not the
course of instruction for an individual lesson. Whilesubstances provided will be catalase positive or
there is no single way to construct one, most lessonnegative. They also examine whether each substance
plans contain some or all of the elements of thetests positive for blood using the phenolphthalein test.
course. In today's modern teaching style, individualAfter this step, they open the evidence packets
lesson plans are often inappropriate. Specificprovided and test whether each stain that was found
objectives and timelines may be included in the unitis likely to be blood or not. The second part addresses
plan, but lesson plans are more fluid as they cater toblood typing.
the students needs and learning styles.Hair Analysis intends to introduce students to the
Students are asked to engage in problems or inquirythought process involved in developing a technique for
learning. Rigid lesson planning with title, objectives andforensic analysis and to the physical structure of hair. It
specific outcomes within certain time constraints, oftenalso provides opportunity for students to improve skills
no longer fit within modern effective pedagogy. Today,in observation, critical thinking and microscopy. This
formal lesson plans are often required only by studentactivity again involves two parts, which may be
teachers, who must be demonstrably familiar with theperformed separately or as a cohesive unit. The first
components of a lesson, or by teachers new to thepart requires students to examine a given set of hair.
field, who have not yet internalized the flow of aUsing their observational and critical thinking skills, they
lesson.develop a procedure to identify hair collected from
Given below are a series of different lesson planscrime scenes. The second part is intended to
which may appeal to science professors, currentlycomplement any crime scene scenario. In this part,
teaching forensic science in class, involving a range ofstudents examine the hair supposedly collected from
difficulties and different aspects of forensic science.the crime scene as well as hair of the suspects and
Bloodstain Analysis involves introducing students tothe pets involved. They use the data sheet provided to
some of the techniques used by forensic scientists fordetermine which suspect is the most likely match.
analyzing blood, the concept of blood type, andDNA fingerprinting involves the preparation and
providing opportunity for students to practice criticalconduct of the DNA fingerprinting laboratory. It is
thinking skills in the context of scientific inquiry. Itdivided into the following parts- Preparation of the
consists of two parts. The first part is intended tostudent materials, plasmid DNA preparation, restriction
teach students about the catalase test, which is usedendonuclease preparation, migration dye preparation
to detect the presence of blood. While there are moreand preparation, loading and running of an agarose gel
sensitive tests available for the presence of blood thatfor use with carolina blue stain.
an investigator might use, this is by far the cheapest.