Description
A fun Ballistics Activity for your students! Can they use their skills to solve the murder of Dillon Dollar? Your students will search for ballistics evidence at the crime scene and in the homes of three suspects. They will then take the role of a ballistics analyst to compare striation marks between the crime scene bullets and those shot from the suspects’ guns (ten bullets total!). Finally, they use gunshot residue evidence to determine the muzzle distance when Dillon was shot.
The Ballistics Activity Includes 34 interactive Google Slides!
Your students will:
- Drag and drop items to search for evidence
- Copy evidence from the crime scene and suspect slides, and paste it into the Evidence Lab slide.
- Rotate and resize evidence to examine striation marks
- Answer thinking questions as they go
- Solve the case!
Full answer KEY included!
In order to be successful with the ballistics activity, your students need to know:
- What types of guns make striations (rifles and handguns, but not shotguns)
- How striations are made on a bullet
- Why striations are unique to each gun
- Be familiar with how compound microscopes work, allowing analysts to compare two bullets / casings at the same time
- A general understanding of muzzle distance determination using gunshot residue patterns
All of these concepts are taught in THIS Google Slides ballistics resource, along with notes for students to complete, and a set of review questions!
Click to see a preview of the Ballistics Evidence Notes.
Here are what some Happy Teachers have to say about this Ballistics Evidence Notes in our Teachers Pay Teachers store:
Students loved working on this assignment. They worked in groups to complete and loved it. – Jada B. February 2, 2022
My students really enjoyed this activity. – Sarah T. January 27, 2022
Great resource for students who are not able to be in class. – Kristen P. January 26, 2022
