The hallways of THS have looked like the scene of a crime for several days! Mrs. Ard's Forensic Science classes are busy studying blood spatter. Students doing the introduction to blood spatter lab are investigating the relationship between the height blood is dropped and the size of the drop on impact. They are also learning to recognize the difference between high-impact and medium-impact blood spatter, such as which would come from a gunshot or blunt force trauma. Students are also testing to see if blood spatters the same way on different types of surfaces.
Forensic 2 students are doing an advanced blood spatter lab. Along with looking at blood spatter on many new surfaces like carpet, tile, fabric, and bricks, these students will apply the things they've learned in the lab to determine the sequence of events from a fictional crime scene. They will have to do things like approximate the position of the victim when the blood spatter event occurred.
This lab is inquiry-based and allows students to have some freedom in setting up their experiments to do the various tests. No two groups do it all alike. This practical application of lab skills shows students how real-life forensic scientists work by solving problems and creating tests to solve crimes.