Transcript power point presentation - Warren Wilson Inside Page

Forensic Science as First Year
Seminar
CWCS Session 37 July 29, 2008
Victoria Collins, Warren Wilson
College
Benefits of CWCS Workshop
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Skills, techniques and confidence to try
things
Great resources and bibliography
See my website for experiments, tips,
sources and suppliers
www.warrenwilson.edu/~vcollins/forensic_fys
Goals For New Students
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Engage students – retention to graduation
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Group identity - peer group
Critical thinking skills
Writing and library use
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Popular topic – J. Chem. Educ. June 2008
Research paper on historical crimes
Excite students about chemistry
Reading and Writing
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Saferstein: Criminalistics
Crime Case studies
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Audri Kowalyk’s series
Other print and on line sources
Laboratory reports show need for
documentation
Trace evidence and chemistry
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Chemistry of glass and fibers
Hair microscopy
Refractive index
Glass fragments show source and fracture
www.fbi.gov
www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/
tatepapers/05spring/freemantle.htm
Blood Spatters and Bite Marks
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Reconstruction by geometry
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Distance from surface
Trigonometry gives angles
www.deviantcrimes.com
Get animal blood from veterinary labs
Look at dental records – learn anatomy
Bite marks on
styrofoam plates
www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/media
Forensic Anthropology
Cool anatomy lessons
 Find bones from biology, anthropology
departments and Bone Clones
 Relate to social sciences
and history
 Radiocarbon dating
activity for Gen chem
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www.boneclones.com/BC-199.htm
Drug Analysis: Surprisingly easy
chemistry
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Field test kits inexpensive
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False positives with lab chemicals
Confirmatory tests using GC/MS
Cocaine on money: see U. Buffalo’s Center for
Case Studies in Science
 1 mg standards available without license
 Spike fake urine or blood
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Arson using GC
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Make fire debris
Headspace SPME
GC- FID
Adaptable for HS
See case study
DNA Analysis
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Commercial kits cost about $150 for class
Thermocycler, electrophoresis from Biology
Department
Students can understand
STR and probabilities
Worth long class
/www.teagasc.ie/research/reports
Crime Scene
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Victim was possible drug dealer
Willing actors: girlfriend, jealous suitor,
drug kingpin
Should solidify group
Students timid about
tracking down suspects
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http://www.threeskins.com/acatalog/cri0613_s.jpg
Success/ Disappointment
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Popular topic – upper class demand
Writing successful
Ideas for other chem courses
Student retention in college <60%
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30% of returning students chem majors
Lack of teamwork on crime scene
Looking Back and Ahead
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CWCS workshop extremely valuable
Check my website: www.warrenwilson.edu/~vcollins/forensic_fys
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Lots more links, recipes and tips on guns,
explosives, fingerprints….
Alcohol
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Intoxilyzer uses IR: explain in gen chem
Redox chemistry of dichromate oxidation
Toxicology for freshmen
Special Issues
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All freshmen
Divergent interests
Advising new students
Introduction to library
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Napoleon and As poisoning?www.ualberta.ca/~xcle/arsenic.
Required research paper
on historical crimes
html
Fingerprinting
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Easy activity for pre-college groups
Classification of prints
Dusting powders, fluorescent and colored
Techniques for latent prints
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Ninhydrin
Super glue
Simple crime scene
blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2006/03/22/index.
html