Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Fake What was the crime? A teaching sequence from the Forensics unit of upd8 wikid, the online curriculum from upd8 Untrialled version 1.0 May 2008 This activity is at ‘beta’ stage, for trialling and evaluation purposes only. It may need some modifications to work fully in the classroom. Please look out for revised version 2.0, available from

Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Highlights of this sequence Gives real interest to the ‘particle model’ by embedding it within a crime story narrative Assesses understanding in context – students explain forensics techniques they’ve mastered using particles A wealth of practical work, carried out in exploratory, ‘constructivist’ style to maximise learning Practises the How Science Works skill of using evidence

Demo of fingerprinting with iodine, and how sublimation works ELABORATE EXTEND Students take the role of Billie trainee forensic scientist investigating a painting fraud ENGAGE What technique could show up fingerprints? ELICIT Billie tries various substances, including iodine EXPLORE How the particle model for change of state explains the results EXPLAIN Billie’s report on fingerprinting, using particle diagrams EVALUATE 7E Learning cycle

Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original The following pages are extracts from the ‘engage, elicit, explore and explain’ parts of the activity N.B. In version 2, post-trialling, dialogue will be rewritten by our scriptwriter and animated

Activity 1: What was the crime? 2 Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Engage ElicitExploreExplainElaborateExtendEvaluate Yes – but it might have been tampered with. Maybe we should check if it has been touched. How can we do this? We have to figure out what the crime was. It must be something to do with the painting – but it looks fine!

Activity 1: What was the crime? 3 Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Engage ElicitExploreExplainElaborateExtendEvaluate Just look for fingerprints, Billie. It’s easy – his fingerprints will be all over the frame! OK. But how can we find them?

Activity 1: What was the crime? 4 Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Engage ElicitExploreExplainElaborateExtendEvaluate Whenever you touch a surface, you leave traces of oil from the ridges on your fingertips. These hidden fingerprints show up if you brush charcoal dust onto the prints. The charcoal sticks to the oil.

Activity 1: What was the crime? 5 Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Engage ElicitExploreExplainElaborateExtendEvaluate I tried this out and the fingerprints got all smudged. We can’t use fingerprints like these as evidence to help solve a crime. You need a substance which: is coloured sticks to oil does not need brushing onto the prints (to avoid smearing) OK Billie. Can you find a better way of showing up fingerprints? I’ll give you 3 substances to investigate.

Activity 1: What was the crime? 6 Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Dr Sherl has lent me her book. It shows us how to use iodine to show up hidden fingerprints on the frame This technique looks great – I’ll try it. Engage ElicitExploreExplainElaborateExtendEvaluate

The following pages are extracts from the ‘explain’ part of the activity

Activity 1: What was the crime? 7 Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Engage ElicitExploreExplainElaborateExtendEvaluate Particles? What are they? And why do they matter to forensics scientists? Hmm. How does iodine show up the fingerprints? What's going on? I think maybe iodine moves to the fingerprint, but how? It doesn’t look like it’s moved…and the lump of iodine doesn't get any smaller. Better ask Dr Sherl… OK Billie, I’ll give you a clue. It’s all to do with particles.

Activity 1: What was the crime? 9 Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Engage ElicitExploreExplainElaborateExtendEvaluate Substances can exist in 3 forms: solid, liquid and gas. These are the states of matter. In each state, the particles are arranged differently, and move differently.

Activity 1: What was the crime? 10 Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Engage ElicitExploreExplainElaborateExtendEvaluate If we transfer energy to or from the substance, its state changes.

The following pages are extracts from the ‘evaluate’ part of the activity

Activity 1: What was the crime? 11 Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Engage ElicitExploreExplainElaborateExtendEvaluate I tried it out using the iodine and it worked! The iodine showed up a couple of thumbprints on the front, and lots of fingerprints on the back. So we’ve got our man… Unknown prints Gallery owner’s prints Well, we’ve got some more evidence, but we still can’t be sure what happened …or who did it. And Dr Sherl keeps going on about how particles are so important to forensic scientists… What does she mean?

Activity 1: What was the crime? 12 Untrialled Beta activity from the Forensics unit of the WikiedScience curriculum © Science UPD8 at page may have been changed from the original Engage ElicitExploreExplainElaborateExtendEvaluate Have a think about it, Billie. Without particles, you and Dragon would never have found the fingerprints. Explain why. Now can you explain why particles are so important to forensic scientists?