Forensic Science -
forensic science honor
BASIC INFORMATION
Forensic Science is a student-centered, semester-long course. Basic forensic analyses will be covered using case studies and labs. Topics covered include the study of fibers, DNA profiling, blood and blood spatter analysis, soil analysis, and fingerprinting. Learning happens primarily through collaborative exploratory-activities and lab work. Students who elect this course for honors credit will be expected to demonstrate strong academic independence through completion of extra projects.
Grade Level: 12, sometimes 11
Number of Meetings per week: 4
Full year or half year: Half year
Number of Credits: 0.5
Prerequisites: Physics I, Chemistry I, Biology I
TYPICAL DAY
Some days we might have notes, some days we might have to do some computer research, other days we have labs - it is not just notes. For homework, they might have to read an article and summarize it. Or they might read a case study and then they have to write down important facts about the case and then their thoughts.
INTERESTING ASSIGNMENT / PROJECT
For blood and blood spatter, we had some fake little droplets on the table, and we did some measurements on that blood droplet. They then had to use that information to figure out what angle the blood droplet came from and also the height too.
CLASS STRUCTURE
Every unit has at least a lab and then there are tests. There also are lab practicals in which students work as team together to go through a lab.
HONORS ASSIGNMENTS
The standard students sometimes have different assignments, and the honors have extra assignments, and the standard students get a grade boost. Honors students might have extra readings, and at the beginning of the year, they have a career presentation where they have to research a forensics career and present to the class.
FINAL PROJECT
Instead of a final exam, the students have a 3-part final project. 1) They research a topic and they tell the class about how the evidence is handled by the forensics technicians. 2) They then talk about case studies, some examples where the type of evidence was really important in solving the crime 3) They have to make up a mock crime scene.
A NOTE FOR JUNIORS
It’s mostly for seniors but there are some juniors taking the class too. The nice thing about forensics is that a lot of the units do not require a lot of prior knowledge. They’re kind of unique, separate topics. But the one problem sometimes is DNA. The structure of DNA is covered, but juniors who haven’t taken it yet in Biology have to do a bit of extra work first semester.
WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE?
I think anyone interested in forensics science or wants to do some more science, because there is chemistry, math, and some biology in it, so if you want to have more science, it’s a nice class to have.
WHAT STUDENTS SAY
“You learn something new that no other classes offer. It is exciting - not your usual boring science class. We did this thing called the Serial Killer Project. Basically, we learned about a specific serial killer and designed a cereal box to advertise him. It was fun; I enjoyed it.”
- Nada A. '18
“I really enjoyed the class because of the super interesting content and the fun labs. Also, because it's a senior/junior class, the teacher is laid back and gave us a lot of freedom. My favorite project was a lab that was about PCR and DNA reconstruction in crime”
-Soleil B. '20