Caitlin+Martin

Calendar of Lessons: Detailed LP's and Worksheets Rough Overview Rationale Paper

The goal of my project is to bring realism and community into my Forensics classroom through a highly interactive unit on Crime Scene Investigation. Coming into my Forensics class in the fall, students have many preconceived notions of how crime scenes are processed thanks to the same television shows that also make my class exciting when they come in. I learned all of my forensic knowledge by reading a textbook and presenting it to my students. What i lacked this past year was having the kids roll up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty.

When crime scene investigators arrives at a crime scene, there are five steps that they take to process the scene: INTERVIEW, EXAMINE, PHOTOGRAPH, SKETCH and PROCESS.

For each of the pieces, there will be either a community aspect or a project/lab that has been developed with an expert.

Two contacts I have so far is a crime scene investigator/detective from the Bergen County Police Department in NJ and a crime scene investigator from Rockland County, NY as well. I'm working on a contact in NYC, because that would ensure an in-person visit.

I'm hoping to kick off the entire unit with a fake crime scene set-up in the science prep room of my school. Hopefully one of my contacts can walk us through the entire process. This will be essential for the remainder of the unit, where we will continue to "revisit" the scene via photographs taken.

thoughts? feedback so far?

Comment from BWalters: Looks like a cool idea! Could you get the kids a field trip to see a lab with the NYPD?

Comment from Addie: My CS from learning teams this year, Erin McGonegle, has an awesome unit on kids developing a field guide around a crime scene. Email her for a copy! ms.mcgonegle@gmail.com