Forensic Science

January 27, 2014-June 18, 2014

South Portland High School
Instructor: Angela Marzilli
Forensic science uses scientific methods and practices to gather
information about the past, most commonly to establish what occurred
in a situation based on scientific evidence. As such, forensic science
involves elements from biology, chemistry, physics, and other common
scientific disciplines. While students in this class will encounter
scientific ideas based in these disciplines and viewed through the lens
of forensics, and equal focus of the class will be developing critical
thinking and collaboration skills within the practice of forensic science.
Because the class is inquiry based, much of the instruction will be
driven by what students need to know as they try to answer our driving
question: Is it possible to commit the perfect crime? Student groups
will try to plan the perfect, non-violent crime as a culminating event,
and they will present the crime to our class for analysis.
Assignments/Grading
5 Quizzes
10 Reflections
2 Readings
Crime Timetable
Visual Display
Presentation
Final Reflection

group
individual
group
individual

Final Score

100 points
100 points
50 points
50 points
50 points
40 points
60 points
20 points
30 points
out of 500 points

Class Outline
(dates subject to change)
February 23-27

Physical Scienceblood spatter, ballistics

March 2-6

Chemical SciencePoisoners Handbook

March 9-13

Poisoners Handbook (cont.)

March 16-20

Biological Sciencefingerprints, blood types,

entomology

March 23-26

The Case of the Murdered Mayor

March 30-April 3

The Case of the Murdered Mayor (cont.)

April 6-10

Murdered Mayor quiz/movie

April 13-17

Team work timeplanning the perfect crime

April 20-24

No schoolspring vacation

April 27-May 1

Team work time/Crime Timetable Due

May 4-8

Ethics of Crime/Team work time

May 11-15

Forensic Science Convention

May 18-22

Team work time

May 25-29

Presentations

June 2-18

The Case of Kristin K.

Reflections/Readings: Reflections and responses to readings

receiving a perfect score will meet three criteria.
Thoughtful: Shows evidence of having deeply considered the
issues, challenges, and successes in the experience or reading
Thorough: Reflects on multiple aspects of the experience or
reading
Clear: Consistently expresses thoughts in a way that is
understandable to the reader
All other projects will be scored using a rubric available to
students with other project materials.
Extra Help: If at any time you feel you could be doing better in the
class or have any questions, please email me at MarzilAn@spsd.org to
make an appointment to discuss them. I am also available before class
for questions.