Science Skills
An educated guess as to what happened
What is an inference?
The size of a footprint can be a good indication of this unless you are examining younger people.
What is the height of a person?
What fingerprints are made up of
What are ridges?
Methods for examining characteristics of different fabrics.
What is...finding out if it will it wrinkle, what colour is it, does the dye come out in water/other solvents, what does the weave look like, how does it feel, does it stretch, does it absorb or repel water, what happens when it burns, or what does one thread look like?
3 characteristics of a persons writing that can be analyzed
What is line quality, spacing, ratio of height width and size, pen lifts and separations, connecting strokes, beginning and ending strokes, unusual letter formation, pen pressure, slant, baseline habits, flourishes or embellishments, placement of diacritics (t's or i's)?
When the scientist uses his/her senses to record what is happening in an experiment.
What is an observation?
Determining characteristics of different types of soil.
What are colour, texture, odor, content (what it is made up of), shape and size of particles?
Dividing prints into loop, whorl, arch, or composite.
What is categorizing prints?
Two tests that can be done on fabric NOT done in class
What is a dye test and burn test?
The manipulated variable in a chromotography experiement
What is the pen ink samples?
The steps involved in carrying out an experiment or test.
What is a procedure?
A footprint characteristic that can tell you whether the person was running or walking.
What is stride length?
A fingerprint pattern in which the ridges start on one side of the finger and finish on the other side of the finger.
What is an arch?
The experiment done to match an ink sample with a suspect's ink sample
What is a chromatography experiment?
The responding variable in a chromotography experiment
What is the separation of ink (colour and attractiveness to water)?
Completed at the beginning of a test or experiment - helps to connect what the scientist already knows about the question.
What is a hypothesis?
A design on the bottom of a shoe.
What is a tread pattern?
The names of the 4 ridge characteristics an investigator looks at within a fingerprint.
What is bifurcation, ridge ending, lake, and island?
What are tread pattern, size of tread, and wear of tread?
The word for handwriting analysis
What is graphology?
The variables in an experiment that are kept the same.
What are control or constant variables?
A chart used to identify and separate different types of shoes. This can also be used for other applications.
What is a dichotomous key?
This is what causes our fingerprint pattern to transfer onto objects we touch
What is oil, salt, and moisture?
Statements that investigators get from people who may have been involved in, or know about a crime
What are witness statements?
A black pen would result in this (these) colours in a chromatography experiment
What is all colours?