February 25, 2013 Week 3

Forensic Sleuthing Week 3: "Get The Dirt on the Culprit"

This week students got to examine evidence from a crime scene.  A criminal is charged with shoplifting from a convenience store (stealing snacks and 30 gallons of gasoline).  As he was committing the crime he carelessly left behind a trail of dirt. The store clerk also mentioned that the man drove a truck and the truck had the word "farm" on the drivers side door. Since there were no video surveillance tapes to help out all we had to go was a sample of dirt left behind and the truck clues.  We found out that there were two farms in the area that have trucks with the word farm in the side.  We got soil samples from each farm and compared the soil samples with the samples found at the crime scene. Using an indicator solution, we were able to tell how much organic matter was in each sample and narrow the farms down to one farm.  This farm had one man working for them that fit the description given by the store clerk.   

Do you see what I see? (Week 2)

February 11th : Week 2 Forensic Sleuthing (Do you see what I see? Part 2)
This week students were again challenged to describe a person that they see often (Mr. Thompson) to a police sketch artist.  Using a computer program similar to what is used by some police departments we tried to recreate Mr. Thompson's face on our Smart Board.  The process took a while and what we came up with was pretty interesting to say the least!!!! We tried again to create the face of Mrs. Searing on of our 6th grade teachers who stopped in briefly.  With this second try were were more successful....but perhaps only because she stopped in and were able to examine her face briefly.  The process of being an eyewitness is more challenging that most of our IMSA students bargained for!!!

Do you see what I see?

January 28th: 1st meeting for the "Black Dirt, Bones & Burns Forensic Sleuthing Unit!!!!!

This week students were asked to define the term forensic science, make observations regarding an event that took place while they were involved in another activity, and consider the relative importance of eyewitness testimony and forensic evidence. Students discovered that being an eyewitness to an event that they do not see coming is more challenging than it might seem. Recalling facts that you weren't sure you were supposed to be watching for is not a simple task and as a real life eyewitness, you would feel tremendous pressure to get your facts "straight"!!!!

Week 9 " Food Inc."

Week 9 " Food Inc."

 

 

This week studnets began watching a documentary called "Food, Inc.".  This movie is controversial and sparks much debate over bitechnology and food processing.  Studnets were very engaged in this program and were begining to question where their food does in fact come from.  We are also begingin to see some of the positives and negatives of using biotechnology on such a large scale in food production.  We are going to have some very good debates next week after we are finished watching this.  We will also continue research in the next few weeks about biotechnology in food production with some other informational sources.  Eventually we will have an actual debate about biotechnology and food production.



Week 8 "DNA: Your Critter's Chemical Identity"

 Week 8 "DNA: Your Critter's Chemical Identity"

 

 

This week students explored the DNA codes of their "critters" from last weeks activity.  We first determined the genetic code of you critters from their genotypes.  Next we explored what is actually in a double strand of DNA and picked apart of critters DNA (symbolically....on paper).  After looking at what parts of DNA are present in their critter's DNA students then created a model of the critter's DNA using pop beads:)





Week 7 "All in the Critter Family"

 

Week 7 "All in the Critter Family"

 

This week IMSA students again explored the world of genetic traits.  This time we were simulating what might happen with some specific genotypes of "critters" using Punnett Squares.  We compared the results of our Punnet Squares to theoretical probability using a spinner to select which traits offspring would receive.   It turns out that our theoretical probabilities are very close in number to our data we created on our Punnett Squares to determine offspring traits. Students had fun creating their "Critter Offspring"

using colored stickers to represent the possible phenotypes.

 (There are more pics below......sorry technical difficulties:)

 

Week 7 "Genes "R" Us"

 Week 7

"Genes "R" Us"

 

This week we continued our exploration of genetic traits.  This time students looked at some of their own phenotypes and determined the frequency of various traits in our class. We charted frequency of several phenotypes such as: (Hairline, Earlobes, Freckles, Hair Type, Tongue roller, Hitchhiker's thumb, PTC Taster) After charting data in groups, we combined our data into a class frequency chart. We compared our data to see if our phenotypes really



                                  were accurate with the dominant or recessive information we

                                 discussed earlier.  Each group also explored a Hardy Weinberg

                                 equation to determine our actual frequency (percentage) of

dominant and receive traits in this class.  (As you can see from the pictures finding our you are a PTC taster is an interesting experience!) Ha Ha!!!