Forensic science is the application of scientific techniques to matters involving law and criminal justice. This educational series capitalizes on the pop culture interest in forensics and legal drama, as popularized through television and crime fiction, to teach students about scientific techniques and procedures. Students will utilize techniques similar to what a forensic scientist might use to investigate a crime scene or to analyze materials and evidence discovered during an investigation.
The I Spy a Forensic Scientist educational program provides printable Educational Placemats for use by students as activity guides. Placemats can be used by individual students, or a group of students may share a single placemat. Each lesson also includes an Instructional Sheet for use by the educator to help guide them in preparing and carrying out these activities with their students.
Some of the lessons in this series contain other sheets that can be printed out to help complete each lesson. In many cases, there are materials needed for these activities that have not been provided (because they are not printable). The materials needed for each exercise are listed on the provided Instructional Sheets.
Many of the lessons in this series were designed to work together so that information gained from one activity would help with the next. There are four Activity Sets; Barcodes, which contains 1 activity, Fingerprints, which contains 4 activities and utilizes shared materials, Powders, which has 3 activities that share materials, and Bite Marks, which contains 2 separate activities that work as a unit.
When possible, the provided Educational Placemats are available in either a single-page or a two-page (double sided) format. The single page option simplifies printing, but the resulting images and text will also be smaller and potentially more difficult for students to interpret.
We hope that you find these activities both fun and helpful when introducing students to scientific processes and tasks. Thank you for utilizing our program!
I Spy a Forensic Scientist (2024) was created and developed in conjunction with Maryville University’s Center for Access and Achievement. This educational program is provided FREE FOR NONPROFIT USE, but may not be used for commercial purposes or profit.
Questions or comments? Reach out to STEM@maryville.edu