Forensic Science Student's Report Out Their Findings

Forensic anthropologists identify individuals involved in crimes of cataclysmic accidents, when the only remains available are bones. By examining the skull and long bones, noting their characteristics and taking careful measurements, the sex, age, phenotype (race) and stature of the individual can be determines/estimated.

A previous posting to this blog covered the students in their groups as they were taking their measurements and making their observations.

In this activity teams of four students were give skeletal pieces (a skull, a leg bone, an arm bone, and a pelvis girdle), their task to identify the sex, race, stature and age of their individual. Each team then reported out their findings in class today, and all teams explained their findings expertly!. Great job ladies and gentlemen.

All the students will write up individual lab reports including each group's findings in their final report.

Claire and James listen as Abby presents her finding based on her observations of the long bones from her skeleton.

Claire explains how she used geological evidence and an acid assay to verify the location of the ancient burial site from which their skeleton was recovered.

Jaems describes his findings based on the examination of the skull from his group's skeleton as Liam, Jesse and Joanna look on and take notes on James' finding.

James and Liam refer to their notes on the skeleton examined by their group.

Liam reviews his notes on the observations and his conclusions he could make from his examination of the humerus (upper arm bone) from his groups skeleton.

Matthew describes his groups find based on observations of the skull from his group's skeleton. James on his right was responsible for examining the skeleton's femur.

Katie discusses her finding by pointing out the pertinent characteristic's of her skeleton's skull, while Patrick gets ready to present his finding based on the femur he examined.

Katie explains her conclusiond based on her examination and measurements of the pelvic girdle in front of her on the desk.

Kristen describes the characteristics of her findings regarding the skull from the skeleton exumed from the burial site verified by Claire earlier. Kailey prepares to explain her conclusions from the examination of the partial pelvic girdle from the same skeleton.

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Vivian explains how she examined the dental arch before her to determine the phenotype (race) of the individual.

Lunar Luxury Tours

Trying to consider where to go for your next family vacation? Consider interplanetary travel, the ultimate destination! While we can't guarantee your return trip home, just think of how jealous your friends and family will be when they see your family photos from space!

Ms. Davies' Earth Science classes formed teams to advertise some of the latest and greatest destinations to travel to in the year 2500. Some of the most popular destinations were the satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune.

Check out the webpage that will tell you all you need to know about Triton:

http://tritontravel.webs.com/

Also a very "groovy" spot, check out Ganymede in this video advertisement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-s6iJjuCWY

Forensic Anthropology Activity

     Today in the forensic science class, the students began their "hands on" investigation. In this exercise the students were divided into six investigative teams composed of four students. Each team had skeletal remains to identify.

     One team was given the task if identifying the geological characteristics of a site in which skeletal remains believed to be those of a "Viking" were found. This team also received casts of three maxilla (upper jaw) bones and had the task of identifying the race and sex of the artifacts

     The other five investigative teams has various part of the skeletal remains of an individual. Three of the teams received a skull, a full pelvis and sacrum, and two long bones (femur or tibia and a humerus). One team ("Viking" remains) had half a pelvis, skull, and a long bone.  The last team had only a pelvis and two long bones (humerus and femur). These teams, to the best of their ability are to take measurements and observations to determine the race, age, sex, and stature.

     When each team has completed their observations they will share out their findings with the class.

     A small footnote, this weekend is Homecoming Weekend, and today was "Uniform Reversal Day". On this day male athletes wear female team uniforms and visa versa, this explains some of the "diverse" wardrobe choices seen in some of these pictures.

Alex and an unseen team member are examining the mandible's articulation with the cranium.

Claire and Vivian were member of the "geological team." Here they are examining one of the maxilla samples they wer also given to identify.

Liam, James, Katie and her aide Emilie are examining the skull and humerus of their remains. My appologies Katie for only getting the top of her head in the picture......my bad :-(

Jesse is showing Joanna how he thinks the head of the femur of their skeletal remains would articulate with the pelvis.

Joanna, Francie, and an unidentifiable Rangers fan examine their skeletal remains.

Katie seems to be measuring the nasal area of her skeletal remains skull, while Emma records Katie's finding in their data tables.

Kristen is comparing her skull to the diagrams distributed as a resource, to ensure that she is accurately measuring the correct anatomical feature.

Matt and his team members are examining the gross features of their skeletal remains femur.

Patrick is using the large calipers to measure the overall length of their remains femur as Robert and Kristen look on.

Emma and Katie taking and recording skull measurements.

Ceramics/AP Biology Connection

E. Weir used her biological knowledge in her Ceramics class to produce this object d'art to represent the mitochondria. The dark blue "ovoid" portion is the outer membrane of the organelle. The orange/yellow "wavy" area within represents the inner membrane of the cristae of this organelle. The arches or arms extending outward represent the cell cytoskeleton (microtubules) which allow cell organelles to move through the cell's cytoplasm.