Thanks to middle school teacher Jennifer Leung for creating this awesome step-by-step presentation for students on their digital portfolio. There is an embedded Google Presentation and a YouTube video! Mrs. Leung is working on designing flipped class lessons as well as learning how to create screencasts and created these as an example of her learning … Continue reading Digital Portfolios: Getting Started
Final Project
In this final project, we put everything we learned in class together to make a short video. I wrote the script, drew out the storyboard, brought in props, and edited. The other members of my group primarily acted in the video with some editing and filming. It was hard to start the project because MCAS … Continue reading Final Project
Hair Evidence Lab
Hair analysis was interesting, but it was hard to tell the differences between samples. The samples all looked different, but there were not many noticeable differences. The root and end were the easiest to identify. The thickness of the hair was the main difference along with color. The size of the medulla stood out along … Continue reading Hair Evidence Lab
Bloodstains Lab
Blood stains can be very useful at crime scenes. Blood cells can be taken from the stains and can be used to identify the blood type of the individual. This can also help distinguish the blood between the victim or criminal.  Knowing the type of blood from the criminal can help narrow down the suspect … Continue reading Bloodstains Lab
Ballistics Lab
From looking at powerpoints, matching ballistic barcodes, and using real ballistic matching tools, I have learned that analyzing ballistics is hard. The barcodes matching was easy, but matching ballistics with real tools and real bullets was difficult. A lot of the bullets we looked at looked similar to each other, so it was hard to … Continue reading Ballistics Lab
Fabric Lab
    In class we performed a fabric lab. This lab was done to see which fabrics were synthetic and which were natural. We used methods that would be similar to those that would help identify fabrics found at crime scene. The tests and observations were for water retention, flammability, reactions to chemicals, … Continue reading Fabric Lab
Frye vs. Daubert
 1. In Frye v. United States, James Frye was accused of the murder of a physician. Frye first admitted that he had committed the crime when he was first arrested, but later took back his statement and claimed he was innocent. In court, Frye wanted to prove his innocence by taking what is now known … Continue reading Frye vs. Daubert
RFLP
We were put into groups of two to research and make a PowerPoint that would be presented to the class on different methods of DNA fingerprinting. My group was assigned RFLP, which is the first and oldest method of matching DNA. We split the work in half and did our respective parts of the project. … Continue reading RFLP
Sherlock Holmes
The Sherlock Holmes story and the article I read both focused on observation. An essential part of Holmes’ method to solve crime is by using observational skills. “To both see and observe: Therein lies the secret.†His keen observation skills allow him to solve crimes by merely looking at the crime scene and the victims. … Continue reading Sherlock Holmes
Fingerprints
I think that fingerprints are a good way to identify someone. Each person has a unique set of prints, so using fingerprints to identify someone is accurate and reliable. In class we lifted our prints from beakers. Fingerprints make impressions on objects we touch because of the oil on our hands. Powder is used to … Continue reading Fingerprints