Ms. Sosnoski's Forensic Science Blog: 2011

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Guest Speaker Today!

Today, Undersheriff Schrom will be visiting 1st and 6th period forensics class to share some crime scene photos and his experiences with the class!

For this lab, students were called to the task of determining the last meal a murder victim ate. They were provided with the "stomach contents" of the murder victim, and performed tests to determine whether the victim had eaten protein, carbohydrates, lipids, or sugars. They then decided whether the victim last ate at Pudgie's Pizza, Gino's Italian Restaurante, or Buffalo Wild Wings, based on the tests they performed. Enjoy the pictures below!

Students working on "Tell the Tale" lab

For this lab, students were given the contents of a woman's purse found at a crime scene. The only information they were given other than the purse contents was that a hairy arm with a wedding band on was found at the top of a stairwell with two sets of bloody footprints leading away from the scene. Using the contents of the purse, students were asked to find out what the owner had done in the last week and come up with a story about what happened. Here's some students at work:

Tyniqua, Sarah, Betty

Tyler O., Cullen, Justin, and Scott

Kyle, Amber, Sam N.

Some videos of our lovely actors

Students practiced being eyewitnesses while other classmates acted out crimes. Students had to try to remember details about the people and events the next day. Here are a couple of our groups acting out their crime scene!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Writing Assignment

IMPORTANT: Students were assigned the writing assignment below yesterday and were given yesterday and today to work on it. It is due on Monday. Please urge your students to be working on it!

Final Pathology Assignment: RAFT
In our unit on pathology, you have learned the process a medical examiner goes through from beginning to end. To show what you have learned, you must complete a RAFT writing assignment. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, Topic. This helps you focus your writing.
ROLE: You will choose one of the following crime scenes to write about. You can also choose whether you will assume the role of the pathologist or the victim!
• Scenario 1: Susan Brown was found dead, face down in an alley and had appeared to be severely beaten and strangled.
• Scenario 2: John Stemson was found in his home, sitting on his couch, with several stab wounds, including a fatal one to his carotid artery
• Scenario 3: Bobby Wright, a bank teller, was shot in the chest and killed during a robbery gone bad
AUDIENCE: A student who has not taken forensic science class
FORMAT: Descriptive essay
TOPIC: The process of a death investigation from start to finish
In your paper, you must include the following:
• A description of what the pathologist would do at the death scene
• How time of death would be determined using the stages of decomposition and potassium in eye fluid
• What the manner, cause, and mechanism of death are and how you knew that
• What type of WOUNDS you expect to see based on the cause of death
• A description of the external examination—what are some things you should be looking for and why?
• A description from start to finish of the internal examination, starting with the Y-incision and ending with sewing the body back up.
• Tests you would do on the stomach contents and what information that would provide you
• A description of what biological samples would be taken from the body and the proper way for handling and packaging these samples.
Requirements:
• Your paper should be at least 8 substantial paragraphs supported with details from your notes, the autopsy reading, the videos we have watched, and the case studies you have worked on.
• This can be typed or handwritten, but should be neat
• Grammar, punctuation, and spelling are important
• You should use language a classmate would understand while still using forensics vocabulary
• DO NOT copy directly from your notes or readings—you will receive a ZERO. You must put everything in your own words

Updates

In this class, we've discussed how CSI type shows are different from real forensics and how the "CSI Effect" is raising jurors' expectations about what is presented in court. We've also talked about the history of forensics and some famous people involved in the development of forensics. Students created timelines of 12 important events. We then delved into the different units of a crime lab and what their functions are. After that, we discussed the four federal crime labs and the NYS Police crime lab and compared the labs to each other. We then moved on to talk about eyewitness testimony and crime scene basics. Now, we are moving on to the different fields of forensics such as pathology, anthropology, odontology, and entomology.

Assignments that should be turned in:

Parent letter Tell the Tale Lab
Anthropometry Lab
History of Forensics packet (done online)
History of Forensics Timeline
Federal/State Crime labs worksheet
Quiz 1 & Quiz 2
CSI Online: Eyewitness Basics worksheet
Test 1
Death Scenarios
Deadly Picnic Lab
Murder in a Meal Lab
Time of Death Determination Practice
Autopsy Reading Graphic Organizer