- Description
This is a FULL YEAR of forensics, condensed into one 17 week self paced semester, or use the time to complete it in a year. Is your child interested in a unique science credit course? A career in forensics? This course will teach your child how to analyze crime scenes and how to use problem-solving skills. This course will count as an elective or 4th science credit for highschoolers. This course is also available for middle schoolers as an elective. Please note I also offer a Middle School Forensics course, that is one semester too. Check out the Middle School electives tab.
Check out this video summary of the course.
Class experience
This is a full year of forensics condensed into one semester (17 weeks). This is one of the most popular forensics courses on Outschool and for charter school programs. Mrs. Collins has had over 50 students complete the class in the first months of offering the course. So this is a very popular science credit course.
Class is normally offered in a private school setting for $599, but discounted to help homeschoolers, private school, public school students, and others for $99 only.
This course is commonly used to meet high school science credit. This course falls into the same category as Biology, Anatomy, Chemistry and Environmental Science for science credit.
Forensic Studies encompasses the wide array of academic disciplines that apply specific knowledge, techniques, and technology to the investigation of crimes and to the law. This is a year long course condensed into one semester.This course will consist of a total of 17 weeks of instruction. So please note the material will be provided at a condensed rate but families have a full year to complete.
Class Experience
This course will include a textbook in pdf online format, videos summary clips (Youtube and teacher created videos) on some topics, weekly chapter reading assignments, written response activities, graphic organizers, diagrams, experiments/labs, notecards, discussion questions and demonstrations.
***Pre-requisite: It is recommended that students have knowledge of basic middle school science before beginning this course. The course is geared towards high school students, but middle school students are welcome too. Parents are asked to help the student the first week of class. This course involves independent reading and inquiry based learning at an 8th grade reading level. This may not be suitable for students with learning disabilities because of the large amount of material condensed, please reach out to the instructor to see if this class will be a good fit for your child's learning style.
HOW A FLEX CLASS WORKS:
A flex class means that the class does not meet for live meetings, but instead the lesson will be uploaded for the student at his or her convenience via slideshows, videos or chapter pdfs to read. This class does involve a lot of independent learning so all flex parents are asked to check the class wall once a week to make sure the child is working at a steady pace, coming the tasks in order, and not accumulating missing work.
HOW IS THE MATERIAL PRESENTED:
This course contains 17 chapters provided, complete with chapters to read (10-15 pages), case studies, practice questions, and optional labs in each pdf chapter. *Students will be given two chapters to read each week for a total of 10-15 pages of reading at an 7th grade reading level. Each week a new pdf chapter will be uploaded for the student to read, and then make notecards over the vocabulary at the beginning of the chapter (total of 10-12 vocabulary notecards each week). Students will upload an image or video to show cards have been completed before beginning the chapter readings. The tasks will need to be completed before moving onto the next chapter. Students are asked to complete the tasks in order, and to not skip tasks. After each chapter a test link will be provided.
Testing: Because this is a FLEX course, we are flexible on how the parent would like the class graded. The instructor will provide a link to take an online test over the chapter. Quizlet and Quizizz will be used for testing, and the site will grade the test too so it is a beneficial resource for families. Students will be asked to keep up with their assessment grades in their science spiral. Parents are asked to check the spiral regularly to look over grades.
WHAT TOPICS WILL BE COVERED:
Chapter 1 Intro To Forensics
Chapter 2 Crime Scene Investigation History And Protocol
Chapter 3 Hair Sampling
Chapter 4 Fibers And Textiles
Chapter 5 Spores and Pollen
Chapter 6 Fingerprints
Chapter 7 Fingerprints And DNA
Chapter 8 Blood
Chapter 9 Drug Toxicology
Chapter 10 Handwriting Analysis
Chapter 11 Cause Of Death
Chapter 12 Soil Analysis
Chapter 13 Forensic Anthropology
Chapter 14 Glass
Chapter 15 Cast And Footprints
Chapter 16 Tool Marks
Chapter 17 Ballistics
Project: Pick a chapter you enjoyed the most, and summarize it with a visual demonstration, paper, diorama or slideshow.
Participation will include an introduction post, labs, assignments, and projects in Google Classroom. Participation in assignments allows students to practice and reinforce learning.
The last week of class, students will pick a previous topic that interest them the most to further research. A list of potential research topics and experiments will be provided to pick from, if the student needs help. Throughout the class, optional additional video clips will be provided in the areas of hair analysis, fingerprinting, spore retrieval, and other specific job areas in the field of forensics. If your student is interested in a particular field, please reach out to Mrs. Collins and she will share more resources in that area to encourage job and career research.
FAQ:
1) Is grading provided? The assignments in Google Classroom are for practice only. But the parent can grade the work, if needed. Mrs. Collins will provide an assessment for each unit to be used for grading. Each student will be provide a packet to print out at the beginning of the class to tape inside of their spiral notebook. The packet will provide a place for the student to record the assessment grades. At the end of the semester, those grades will be averaged for the class grade.
2) Are assignments optional? Mrs Collins provides the curriculum but it is ultimately up to the family on what assignments are completed. If you would like a certificate of completion at the end, then please make sure all assignments are completed. If a parent would like for an assignment to be skipped, the student can add "opt out" in the assignment comments to let Mrs. Collins know.
3) How is this class different from the middle school forensics class? This class is very similar but some pdf chapter sections are omitted for the middle school students. The last unit over ballistics is also omitted in the middle school class.
4) How long is the class? This is up to the family and the student's pacing. A full year of forensics will be uploaded to Google Classroom. Each week has a chapter, vocabulary words to write out, questions to answer, slideshows to review, labs to recreate at home, and assessments. Some students complete the course in a full year, while some students move at a faster pace to complete it in a semester. But a full year is uploaded upfront for the student to work on. Mrs. Collins creates Canvas courses for the public school, so she has experience uploading standards based assignments and making sure a full year of work is uploaded properly for families.
5) Does this course count as a high school science credit? Yes, this class will count as a full year of science credit for high school students that are homeschooled or in a private/co-op/or charter program.
6) Is the class appropriate for my child? Please note that all forensics courses will mention bugs in bodies, blood splatter, case studies, and more so keep that in mind.