Forensics (for Parents/Teachers)

The purpose of the forensics lab is to build on the core topics of the scientific method and help extend a student’s capabilities with deductive and inductive reasoning. Using the physical evidence from a specific situation, students are asked to develop information around 5 key questions: what happened, when did it happen, where did it happen, how did it happen, and finally why did it happen?

Forensic science developed out of the need to trace behavior that harmed individuals and society as a whole. Although it is rooted as an applied science paired closely with criminology, it is equally useful in investigations in diverse areas such as laboratory science, insurance claims, information recovery, intelligence, legal discovery, engineering, and root cause analysis in business and industry.

Forensic thought processes require drawing on a broad discipline of sciences including, but not limited to chemistry, physics, computer science, biology, psychology, and economics. 

The exercise presented to students focused more specifically on evaluating physical evidence than evaluating information from human sources (the latter being inherently more controversial and less age-appropriate for elementary school). Older students may want to add “who” to the list of five questions above.

Some advanced students are expected to consider their assumptions in the investigative process and develop creative theories that are supported by varying their initial assumptions. Students are asked to evaluate the following four scenarios:

• Assuming that the cup and beads are set at the same time, or that
• Bead pattern 1 is a basic spill, similar to spilling a glass of water.
• Bead pattern 2 is a drop from a low height. Explanations for the white bead are expected to vary significantly. Two possible explanations involve the bead falling out of the cup before the drop or a forensic error was made in collecting evidence that documents the bead pattern.
• Bead pattern 3 requires carefully setting the cup with the beads placed on top.
• Bead pattern 4 can be accomplished through the combination of a spill from low height and a drop upside down in a clear area.