Challenge your students with this Forensic Blood Spatter Activity! No Prep! This blood spatter activity is designed to help your students practice their forensics spatter analysis skills! It can be 100% digital, and easily used for in class or distance learning.
Challenge your students with this Forensic Blood Spatter Activity! No Prep! This blood spatter activity is designed to help your students practice their forensics spatter analysis skills! It can be 100% digital, and easily used for in class or distance learning. Or opt for the hands-on version – or do both!
Students will…
Distinguish between blood dripping from close to the ground, vs high above the ground
Know if a trail of blood came from someone who was running, or walking
Determine which direction a drop of blood was moving when it hit a surface
Recognize that long drops hit a surface at a low angle, while drops that are more round hit the surface at a higher angle (closer to 90 degrees)
Measure the height and width of a blood drop
Use that information to calculate the angle of impact
Determine the point of origin within a 2D room
The Blood Spatter Activity Includes:
Student Blood Spatter Analyst: Thirty One slide document. Students will move and rotate objects as they go, allowing them to interact with the slides as they answer questions. Includes a digital ruler and digital protractor! Instructions are included in the slides.
Blood Spatter Analysis KEY: use for yourself or provide to your students after working to give them feedback
Printable Versions of Blood Angle Calculations: There are two versions of this – one has ovals that guide students in their measurements. Distinguishing where the drop ends and where the tail starts is the hardest part of measuring! The ovals make it easy.
Teaching Guide: with tips for doing the activity, sharing with your students and how to grade it faster!
Before Students Begin
This activity is designed to strengthen and reinforce concepts and skills for blood spatter analysis, and not necessarily to be the only exposure students have to the ideas. It would be helpful for them to learn about blood spatter first, and to see examples, before doing this activity. My students watch an online lecture about Blood Spatter Analysis and fill out notes before doing this activity: Blood Spatter Digital Notes!
Great activity for the classroom! The students got a chance to see how the angle & height of the droplet of blood can affect the look of the blood spatter. – Shannon M. February 14, 2023
This resource is AMAZING. Making this topic interactive and digital is a great way to keep all of my students learning and engaged. It’s such a fun unit and usually this part is not as exciting but the students enjoyed this the whole time! – Ms. Weissert December 16, 2021
This was really cool. The videos were short and sweet and the kiddos could use math and other observational skills to figure out how to complete the activities. – Sasha J. November 18, 2021
This is the best blood spatter exercise if have seen. I had my students perform the blood spatter lab and then complete this blood spatter analysis activity. It tied is all together and students made connection on what they did and how blood spatter is analyzed. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! – Kenya M. December 14, 2020
