The Forensic Teacher Magazine Issue 35 Page left intentionally blank. This magazine is best viewed with the pages in pairs, side by side (View menu, page display, two- up), zooming in to see details. Odd numbered pages should be on the right. Own Escape Room Make Your The ForensicTeacher Magazine The Problem With Eyewitnesses Fall 2019 $5.95 US/$6.95 Can Own Escape Room Make Your 3 Spring 2015 The Forensic Teacher • Fall 2019 $5.95 US/$6.95 Can The Volume 13, Number 35, Fall 2019 The Forensic Teacher Magazine is published and owned by Wide Open Minds Educational Services, LLC. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 5263, Wilmington, DE 19808. Please see inside for more information. ForensicTeacher Magazine Articles 48 Using Phones to Learn Forensics 10 Interview By Carolyn Nicander Mohr By Mark Feil, Ed.D. Since your students won’t put down their phones, they The National Transportation Safety Board is first can at least use them to gather evidence. on the scene when there’s an accident involving planes, highways, pipelines, trains, and more. These people are available 24/7, 365 days a year, and 50 The Magic of Guest their dedication and quality is second to none. Dana Schulze, director of the NTSB, gives us a behind-the- Speakers scenes breakdown of how they do the magic they do. by Ricky Pelazzo Guest speakers are great— they have instant credibility, lots of experience, and great war stories. This article will help you find some and prepare your students with the 28 A Christmas Mystery right questions. By Janee Gerding Someone sent a mail bomb to Santa at the North Pole. Fortunately, it was disarmed and analyzed for evidence, 52 Turn Any Worksheet but there’s a whole list of suspects who don’t want Santa to have a Merry Christmas. Do your students Into an Escape Room have what it takes to look through the clues and figure Exercise out who wanted a bloody holiday? By Jessica Parker Escape rooms are popular because they combine collaboration, creative thinking, and attention to detail while working under the pressure of a time limit. 40 How Reliable Is Here’s how to turn any worksheet into an escape room Eyewitness Testimony? activity. By Katherine Wilkinson, Ph.D. Eyewitness testimony is the leading cause of wrongful conviction. This lesson will not only show your students 61 Murder Mystery at why and how witnesses don’t remember what they think they do, but give them a chance to see how Menagerie Park wrong they can be too. Courtesy of SciTech This forensic mystery tasks your students with finding clues and inconsistencies among witnesses statements to figure out who committed the crime. Features 2 Editorial 4 Mini-mystery 71 A Cryptography Mystery 5 Hot Links By Joe Cossette 6 Book Reviews Making and using ciphers requires dedication and attention to detail. This activity will show your students 9 Forensic News various ways messages can be encrypted and 46 Photo Mystery challenge them to use what they know to figure out your 88 Crossword Puzzle message. Can they do it in time? 90 Answer page 92 Morgue Guy 92 What’s Going On? 93 Just For Fun 94 Stoopid Crooks 11 www.theforensicteacher.com www.theforensicteacher.comwww.theforensicteacher.com The Forensic Teacher • Fall 2019 Editorial The ForensicTeacher Magazine Editor-in-Chief The Three C’s Mark R. Feil, Ed.D. Assistant Editor Tammy Feil, Ed.D. I like to think there are three C’s when it comes to teaching forensics. Most of you know about the first one, Competition. Setting your students against each other, Book Editor whether it be each one for themselves or group against group, there’s no better Enrico Pelazzo way to light a fire under your kids than to let them think another person or another Henssge’s Nomogram group is going to get the answer first. Especially if there is a prize or bragging rights Science Editor involved. Forensics is about using your brain, your training, and your experience to T. Ann Kosloski crack a mystery. Who doesn’t want to be the first one to solve a puzzle? Sometimes it’s all about just coming up with the correct answer. DNA profiles, fingerprints, Copy Editor and blood spatter patterns all require attention to detail. When lives and forensic Tammy Feil credibility hang in the balance your students are more interested in a correct answer Contributing Editor than the quickest one. But if they find the correct one before everyone else it makes Jeanette Hencken being first all that much sweeter. The second C stands for Cooperation or Collaboration. No single detective Layout/Graphic Design or forensic scientist can be good at everything. Success comes to those who know Mark Feil when to reach out for help. Sometimes it’s experience with a different type of evidence. Sometimes it’s simply another set of eyes. Every student in your class Circulation about forensics inherently understands this. Don Penglioni But the third C many teachers don’t take enough advantage of is Coordination. This could be as simple as using jigsawing with your students. It could be Editorial Assistant coordinating different aspects of a case between groups or even different sections of Sandy Weiss classes. For instance, maybe one group discovers evidence that exonerates a suspect they don’t realize another group is targeting. And maybe a third group discovers a discrepancy between the two and works independently to bring them together while presenting evidence for another, overlooked suspect. Or maybe you could Editorial Advisory Board coordinate with other members of the faculty. What if your students overhear your principal mentioning a theft in the teachers lounge, a couple faculty members who have motive, and a dearth of evidence? What if some of your students overheard Lt. John R. Evans some of the teachers of interest making incriminating statements because they Section Chief of the Delaware State didn’t think anyone was listening? What if all that is needed are fingerprints or Police Homicide Unit trace evidence from the teachers of Interest to match to something left behind in Head, DSP Crime Lab and Forensic the teachers lounge? By coordinating scenarios with other faculty members you’re Services Unit setting your students up for amazing possibilities. Plus, I guarantee the other teachers you approach based on your gut instinct of how much they’d like to be Jeanette Hencken included will be absolutely thrilled. Forensic Science Teacher Webster Grove High School, Webster Groves, MO Cheri Stephens Forensic Science Teacher Washington High School, Dr. Mark Feil Washington, MO Adjuct faculty at St. Louis U. Hugh E. Berryman, PhD, D-ABFA Forensic Anthropologist Volume 13, Number 35, Fall 2019 Director, Forensic Institute for Research The Forensic Teacher Magazine (ISSN 2332-3973) is published two or three times a year and is owned by Wide Open Minds Educational Services, LLC. Our mailing address is P.O. and Education Box 5263, Wilmington, DE 19808. Letters to the editors are welcome and should be sent to Middle Tennessee State University [email protected]. Submissions are welcome and guidelines are available, as is a rate sheet for advertisers at our website www.theforensicteacher.com. If you sign up for a Ted Yeshion, Ph.D. subscription you will receive an email when it is ready for download provided your spam filter doesn’t screen it out, and you opened the email announcing the previous issue; sign up at Professor - Criminal Justice & our website. Back issues are available singularly on our website, or all on a CD. The Forensic Criminalistics, Gannon University Teacher is copyrighted 2019 Wide Open Minds Educational Services, LLC, all rights reserved. All opinions expressed by contributors represent their own views, and not necessarily the views of the staff or editorial board. 2 The Forensic Teacher • Fall 2019 www.theforensicteacher.com www.theforensicteacher.com Congrats! Try or buy ISBN 9781138487451 Try or Buy 3 www.theforensicteacher.com www.theforensicteacher.com The Forensic Teacher • FallISBN 2019 9781138488052 Try or Buy Mini-Mystery Death In the Garage INSPECTOR MATTHEW WALKER AND Thomas P. “Not yet, sir. We’re still checking the house.” Stanwick had barely begun their weekly game that Thursday “And how much gas was in the tank?” asked Stanwick. evening at the chess club when Walker’s beeper went off. “Oh, plenty, sir. More than enough.” “There’s been a suspicious death in Caterina Road,” said “Thank you, sergeant,” said Walker. “Please tell Mrs. Walker when he returned from the phone. “Probably a suicide. McCarthy I’ll see her soon.” Care to come?” “Yes, sir.” “By all means. Some evenings weren’t made for chess.” As Hatch strode off, Walker turned back to Stanwick. A quarter of an hour later, Walker and Stanwick were in the “Well, Tom, I’m afraid there’s not much of special interest garage of Walter McCarthy, a real estate broker. McCarthy here. Whether or not we find a note, this looks to me like a was seated behind the wheel of his car, dead. The garage door straightforward suicide.” was open, the car was silent, and the police were busily at Stanwick shook his head solemnly. work. “I don’t think so, Matt,” he replied. “Though I can’t be “The body was discovered by Mrs. McCarthy when she certain, I think this is a case of murder.” returned home on foot about six,” reported Sergeant Hatch. “The car was running. Nearly overcome by Why does Stanwick think McCarthy was murdered? exhaust fumes herself, she opened the garage door from the inside, switched off the car, and called 9-1-1 from the kitchen.