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Fingerprints—Just the Facts, Ma’am
Subject Area:
Science
Grade Level(s):
6
Duration of Activity:
Two to three, 50-minute class periods
Description of Activity:
This lesson is designed to familiarize students with the classification schemes that aid in analyzing fingerprints. The lesson provides a brief description of the basic types of fingerprints and methods used in taking fingerprints. The lesson activities will allow students to determine the most common pattern or type within their classroom.
Objectives:
- Students will describe how fingerprints can be classified.
- Students will learn methods used in taking fingerprints.
Materials/Equipment:
- Computers with Internet access
- Microsoft PowerPoint or other multimedia presentation software
- Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet/graphing software
- FlexCam
- Large-screen monitor or projection device
- 3" x 5" index cards, 2 per student
- Ink stamp pad
- Hand lens or magnifying glass
- Rubbing alcohol for cleanup
- Paper towels for cleanup
- Fingerprints: The Facts Microsoft PowerPoint presentation
- Handout 1: Fingerprint Patterns and Classifications found at Fingerprinting: Boy Scouts of America / http://onin.com/fp/fpmeritbdg.html. The handout can be located by scrolling down the page and clicking on "Eight Types of Fingerprint Patterns."
- Handout 2: Making Fingerprints Activity
- Handout 3: Simple Spreadsheet Graphing
Prerequisites (skills or background needed):
- Knowledge of the vocabulary terms related to fingerprinting including: classify, latent, visible, and characteristic.
Procedure
Teacher Component:
The teacher will
- give a brief factual introduction to fingerprints using a PowerPoint presentation that includes the following facts.
- Datcyloscopy is the study and comparison of fingerprints for identification purposes.
- Fingerprints are commonly used in identification of criminals because each person’s fingerprints are unique and do not change over the course of a lifetime.
- Fingerprints are left on everything touched, even when only a slight amount of pressure is applied.
- Latent fingerprints are not visible to the naked eye but are made by sweat present on the finger ridges.
- Skin that is damaged by burns or scrapes will retain the original fingerprint pattern.
- invite a local police officer to discuss how important fingerprints are in solving crimes.
- identify and explain the basic types of fingerprints using Handout 1: Fingerprint Patterns and Classifications downloaded from Fingerprinting: Boy Scouts of America / http://onin.com/fp/fpmeritbdg.html. The handout can be located by scrolling down the page and clicking on "Eight Types of Fingerprint Patterns."
- Fingerprint files are arranged according to the basic characteristics that each print exhibits. These characteristics include pattern types and size.
- The three basic types of fingerprints are arch, loop, and whorl. These are broken down into seven specific categories including the plain arch, tented arch, radial loop, ulnar loop, plain whorl, central packet whorl, and accidental whorl.
- use a FlexCam, a projector, and Handout 1: Fingerprint Patterns and Classifications to show an enlarged view so that students can better see how fingerprints might be sorted into categories in the way fingerprint specialists do. To use fingerprints to solve crimes, one must have a way to describe, sort, and find prints that are similar to the ones lifted at a crime scene.
- identify and discuss the following methods for taking fingerprints:
- Inking using an actual rubberstamp inkpad, the oldest method
- using pencil lead rubbed on a card and lifting prints by pressing tape on the finger after pressing each finger to the card
- using commercially prepared hardware and software systems such as Automated Fingerprints Identifications Systems (AFIS) or Sony’s Puppy Fingerprint Identification Unit
- demonstrate the rolled impressions and plain impressions techniques for obtaining fingerprints as described at Fingerprinting—Merit Badge Requirements of the Boy Scouts of America / http://onin.com/fp/fpmeritbdg.html.
- divide students into groups of four. Instruct each group to complete Handout 2: Making Fingerprints Activity, carefully following the directions.
- circulate among the groups to provide assistance and to answer questions as needed.
- collect the students’ second set of fingerprint cards. Use FlexCam and projector or large-screen monitor to project each card and allow students as a class to classify each set of fingerprints as a review and to obtain graphing data.
- instruct students to open Microsoft Excel on their computers and follow the instructions shown on Handout 3: Simple Spreadsheet Graphing. Create a bar graph to reflect the most common pattern or classification of fingerprints within this classroom of students. This will help to keep students on task during the class review.
Student Activities:
The students will
- copy facts on fingerprinting in science notebooks from the teacher’s Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and class discussions.
- ask the police officer questions about fingerprinting when he/she speaks to the class.
- study the basic types of fingerprints using Handout 1: Fingerprint Patterns and Classifications.
- complete Handout 2: Making Fingerprints Activity working in groups of four.
- sort the group’s fingerprint cards into two exact sets and exchange one complete set with another group. This will allow each group to have 8 fingerprint cards to compare and classify.
- collaborate as a group to compare and classify students’ fingerprints according to their similarities and the types shown on Handout 1: Fingerprint Patterns and Classifications.
- keep one set of the group’s cards and provide the teacher with the duplicate set.
- review and obtain graphing data as a class, classifying the fingerprints as the teacher displays them using the FlexCam and large-screen monitor or projector device.
- create simple spreadsheets to show the classification types and the number of times each classification is identified during the class review using Handout 3: Simple Spreadsheet Graphing as a guide.
- construct bar graphs using this data to reflect and show the most common patterns and classification of fingerprints within this classroom of students.
Accommodations:
- Group students according to academic and technology-skills levels so that those who are more proficient can assist those with limited abilities.
- The teacher can create a spreadsheet template file with patterns and classification names already keyed.
Extension Activities:
- Allow students to investigate the differences and similarities in their fingerprints and those of their peers to determine if age, sex, or race seems to predict any type of pattern.
- Allow students to compare their prints to those of siblings and parents for evidence of hereditary influences.
Integration:
Assessments:
- Teacher observation
- Fingerprint card samples
URLs:
Curriculum Frameworks
Mississippi:
Sixth Grade
- Compare and classify the reproduction and heredity of organisms. (L)
- Determine how traits are used to classify individual inherited patterns.
National Educational Technology Standards (NETS):
- Select and use appropriate tools and technology resources to accomplish a
variety of tasks and solve problems.
TerraNova:
19 Science Inquiry (Level 11-21/22)
Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental concepts of science inquiry. Demonstrate the ability to perform science inquiry.
Through text, diagrams, and drawings, provide explanations of investigations, analyze investigations, and communicate results.
Link and Feedback to Author(s):
Linda Watts, South Delta Middle School, Anguilla, MS
sttawl@hotmail.com
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