Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at ...

Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at www.upd8.org.uk

This page may have been changed from the original

Fake What was the crime?

A teaching sequence from the Forensics unit of upd8 wikid, the online 11-14 curriculum from upd8

Untrialled version 1.0 May 2008

This activity is at ‘beta’ stage, for trialling and evaluation purposes only. It may need some modifications to work

fully in the classroom.

Please look out for revised version 2.0, available fromwww.upd8.org.uk



Highlights of this sequence

•Gives real interest to the ‘particle model’ by embedding it within a crime story narrative

•Assesses understanding in context – students explain forensics techniques they’ve mastered using particles

•A wealth of practical work, carried out in exploratory, ‘constructivist’ style to maximise learning

•Practises the How Science Works skill of using evidence

Demo of fingerprinting with

iodine, and how sublimation works

ELABORATE

EXTEND

Students take the role of Billie trainee

forensic scientist investigating a painting

fraud

ENGAGE

What technique could show up fingerprints?

ELICIT

Billie tries various substances,

including iodine

EXPLORE

How the particle model for change of state explains the results

EXPLAIN

Billie’s report on fingerprinting, using

particle diagrams

EVALUATE

7E Learning cycle



The following pages are extracts from the ‘engage, elicit, explore and explain’ parts of the activity

N.B. In version 2, post-trialling, dialogue will be rewritten by our scriptwriter and animated

Activity 1: What was the crime?2Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at www.upd8.org.uk


Engage Elicit Explore Explain Elaborate Extend Evaluate

Yes – but it might have been tampered with.

Maybe we should check if it has been touched. How can we do this?

We have to figure out what the crime was.It must be something to

do with the painting – but it looks fine!




Just look for fingerprints, Billie.

It’s easy – his fingerprints will be

all over the frame!

OK. But how can we find them?




Whenever you touch a surface, you leave

traces of oil from the ridges on your fingertips. These hidden

fingerprints show up if you brush charcoal dust onto the prints.

The charcoal sticks to the oil.




I tried this out and the fingerprints got all smudged. We can’t use

fingerprints like these as evidence to help solve a crime.

You need a substance which:

is colouredsticks to oil does not need

brushing onto the prints (to avoid smearing)

OK Billie. Can you find a better way of showing up

fingerprints?

I’ll give you 3 substances to

investigate.



Dr Sherl has lent me her book. It shows us how to use iodine to show up hidden

fingerprints on the frame

This technique looks great – I’ll try it.


The following pages are extracts from the ‘explain’ part of the activity




Particles? What are they? And why do

they matter to forensics scientists?

Hmm. How does iodine show up the fingerprints? What's going on? I think maybe iodine moves to the fingerprint, but how? It doesn’t look like it’s moved…and the lump of iodine doesn't get any

smaller. Better ask Dr Sherl…

OK Billie,I’ll give you a clue.

It’s all to do with particles.




Substances can exist in 3 forms: solid, liquid and gas. These are the states of matter. In each state, the

particles are arranged differently,

and move differently.




If we transfer energy to or from the substance, its state changes.

The following pages are extracts from the ‘evaluate’ part of the activity




I tried it out using the iodine and it worked! The iodine

showed up a couple of thumbprints on the front, and lots of fingerprints on the back. So we’ve

got our man…

Unknown prints

Gallery owner’s prints

Well, we’ve got some more

evidence, but we still can’t be sure what happened …

or who did it.

And Dr Sherl keeps going on about

how particles are so important to

forensic scientists… What does she mean?




Have a think about it, Billie. Without particles,

you and Dragon would never have found the fingerprints.

Explain why.

Now can you explain why particles are so important to forensic

scientists?

Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at ...

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