Web Links

Missing Money Mystery: An Introduction to Forensic Science

Internet resources to help fill in background knowledge and extend lessons:

Lesson 1

The following websites will enrich what has been learned in this lesson about observation and the five senses:

Check out The Kid's Page at http://www.fbi.gov/fbikids.htm which was created by the FBI. The page has information on the history of the FBI, safety and various types of  working dogs," as well as games.

Go to http://www.proteacher.com Click on Science and Technology, then on Physical Sciences. Scroll down and click on Hands-on Activities in the Physical Sciences, then on Observation and Measurement. Check out the following activities: Observing with Five Senses: Parts 1, 2 and 3; Observation and Inference: Parts 1 and 2; and Measuring Distances: Parts 1 and 2.

Visit Questacon, Australia's national science and technology center, and help the Tasmanian Devil use his sense of smell to follow the trail of the wombat at http://www.tryscience.org Click on field trips and then Sniff a Snack!

While at http://www.tryscience.org , click on experiments. Click on the featured experiment, Mysterious Melodies. See if your brain is playing tricks on your hearing as you try to unscramble popular tunes.

Lesson 2

The following websites will enrich what has been learned in this lesson about crime scene evidence and mapping:

Lou-Lou, Dan the Man, Peg the Leg and Jake the Jock are all suspects in a mystery involving a broken classroom aquarium. Chocolate candy and blue paint are two of the clues. Go to the website to solve the mystery at http://www.cyberbee.com/whodunnit/crimescene.html

Lesson 3

The following websites will enrich what has been learned in this lesson about tracks and tread:

Learn all about bicycle safety at http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/watch/out/bike_safety.html

Make a plaster cast of a tire track with these directions. The tire track is clue #1 in the "Be a Junior Detective!" activity at http://www.familyfun.go.com/games/indoor-outdoor-games/feature/junior-detective/junior-detective2.html

Still more treads, but these are from automobile tires. Go to http://www.imsa.edu/programs/e2k/brazzle/E2Kcurr/Forensic/Tracks/TireLib.html

Lesson 4

The following websites will enrich what has been learned in this lesson about soil:

This is a fabulous website for more information on soil! Go to http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/soil/ This site has three separate activities. One examines the layers of soil, another is a field guide to microscopic critters in soil, and the last is an interactive adventure called Soil Safari. In soil safari, it's your job to save a meadow and the life in its soil from a toxic chemical that has spilled!

Who thought soil and art would mix? Go to http://penfieldgallery.com/sand.shtml Click on the various names of Navajo artists to see their sand paintings.

Exactly how is soil a layer of our earth? Go to http://geography4kids.com/files/land_soil.html to find out!

Lesson 5

The following websites will enrich what has been learned in this lesson about secret codes:

Go to http://ww.thunk.com/index.cgi to write your name in code. Just click to scramble and unscramble.

Lots and lots of codes at http://www.scouting.org.za/codes/

The National Security Agency has a kid's page at http://www.nsa.gov/kids/Find games and activities at America's Cryptokids and the Cryptologic Museum.

More on codes and even a Spy Gadgets Quiz at http://www.scienceyear.com/outthere/index.html?page=/outthere/spy/index.html

Have your own phrases translated into Morse Code by going to http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/English/Games/index.html

Lesson 6

The following websites will enrich what has been learned in this lesson about lips, mouths and prints:

Find out about a different kind of print at http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/SOD/ffingerprintid.htm

What do Martin Luther King, Jr. and Albert Einstein have in common? Their prints are at http://www.dermatoglyphics.com

More information on fingerprints at http://www.ridgesandfurrows.homestead.com/fingerprint_patterns.html

The Lips Don't Lie at http://www.tristate.edu/about/discover/spring_2006/lips2006.cfm briefly describes a small study of lip prints done by college students.

Lesson 7

The following websites will enrich what has been learned in this lesson about chemistry:

Meg A. Mole is trying to make a bouncy ball. How much of each ingredient must be added? Help her at http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=kids/index.html Scroll down to Interactive Games and click on Meg A. Mole's Bouncy Ball Factory!

How does a chemical reaction happen? http://www.chem4kids.com/files/react_intro.html will tell you all about it.

http://www.pbskids.org/zoom/games/kitchenchemistry/virtual_start.html has a great interactive game about chemistry. You can also get some great ideas from the Reality Kitchen on the Kitchen Chemistry homepage.

Lesson 8

The following websites will enrich what has been learned in this lesson about DNA:

Check out the history of DNA at http://www.scienceyear.com/outthere/start.html Scroll down to dna50 and click on!

Great activities about DNA at http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/ Click on The Basics and Beyond, and then click on Tour of the Basics. There are three tours that address this lesson: What is DNA?, What is a Chromosome? and What is a Trait? Also, click on Build a DNA Molecule and Translate and Transcribe a Gene.

This website contains an easy to follow video on DNA. There's also a game on building a DNA structure. Go to http://www.genetics.gsk.com/kids/dna01.htm

What would you be like if you crossed your DNA with that of an animal? Visit the links below for more information:

http://www.genetics.gsk.com/kids/dna01.htm

Lesson 9

The following websites will enrich what has been learned in this lesson about fibers and fabrics:

Go to http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/008.html for information on the history of the fabric industry. There is a list at the bottom including more information on the 'Spinning Jenny' and other specific topics. Just click on each to learn more.

Students in Yellow Springs, Ohio are conducting fiber analysis at http://www.yellow-springs.k12.oh.us/ys-mls/fiber_analysis.htm

At http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2000/deedric3.htm the FBI has loads of information on fiber analysis.

Solving a crime is a lot like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. If you do not have any puzzles of your own, go to http://www.thinks.com/games

and click on Jigsaw Jamboree.

Lesson 10

This lesson is also about fibers and fabrics, so the same websites from Lesson 9 apply.