Forensic science has to be one of the most popular classes at Greeley West. Students are currently in their physical evidence unit which pertains to everything that could be left behind at a crime scene. This includes footprints, fingerprints, blood splatter, or any other bodily fluids.
Science teacher Mr. Ryan Pace said, “Physical evidence is anything that a person could physically leave behind, and could be used to identify this person. Class was then able to match suspects’ finger printers to fingerprints left behind, using fingerprint and ridge characteristics as well as compare the class averages to nation averages of percentages of arches, loops, and whirls.”
The lab they did in class focused on fingerprints, how to identify them, and how to use them to identify a person. They painted their fingers with a sharpie and pressed them onto a balloon to be able to physically see their fingerprints. They did this to be able to see how many arches, whirls, and loops their class had and then compare them to the national average. The thing with fingerprints is that they don’t have anything to do with genetics. Before you were born, you formed your fingerprints by pressing your fingers against your mother’s womb. This is what makes everybody’s fingers print so unique.
Students were able to categorize their fingerprints based on their loops, arches, and swirls. Junior Ewin Flores said, “We got a real life case study of everything we were learning, all the terms and vocabulary. My favorite part was you really did get to see how unique everyone’s fingerprints were, and you could tell them all a part. I had 7-loops 2-whirls-1 arch.”
The second part of the lab was a real crime scene. A local Crumbl Cookie was robbed and students had to match fingers from around the store to the potential suspect, Mr. Cranson. Junior Eliana Scott said “Mr. Pace made the assignment actually fun, and easy to follow. I had six loops, four whirls, and no arches. We were learning about the national average and how our class was different, but were still able to tell the difference between arches, loops, and whorls just by looking at them, and were able to identify Mr. Cranson’s fingerprints at the crime scene.”
The national average for a person is 65% loops, 30% whirls, and 5% arches.
