Dan's Science Lab

The Bear Brook Murders : An "Interrupted" Case Study Using a Popular PodcastIn 1985, a hunter walking through Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire made a grisly discovery: a 55 gallon drum left deep in the woods, containing two sets of skeletonized remains, which investigators believed had been left in the woods for years….    ....this is just the beginning to a facinating tale of a murder that would make forensic history! The effort to solve the many mysteries surrounding this inv

" Crack the Code" is an escape room style activity for use in your forensics classroom . It contains 12 puzzles, covering the basic concepts of fingerprinting, blood evidence, blood typing, DNA fingerprinting, and hair morphology. Students must find hidden keys and discover secret messages to "Crack the Codes" and catch the crook! The puzzles contain short readings that help students to learn a brief history of forensics as well. Descriptions and solutions are provided for each puzzle. You can

" Crack the Code- the Case of the Criminalist Killer" is an escape room style activity for use in your forensics classroom . It contains 9 puzzles, covering the basic concepts of fingerprinting, blood evidence, blood typing, DNA fingerprinting, glass analysis, and forensic anthropology. Students must find hidden keys and discover secret messages to "Crack the Codes" and catch the crook! Descriptions and solutions are provided for each puzzle. You can use all of the puzzles or choose just a few i

Based upon the critically-acclaimed Chernobyl miniseries from HBO, this video guide accompanies episode 1 of the 5 part drama.  The film is a painstakingly accurate account of the worst nuclear accident in human history. This lesson plan can be used in a physics class for topics of nuclear chemistry, world history class for historical discussions of the accident and the Soviet Union/Ukraine during the cold war, environmental science class for the effects of the accident on the environment, or a

Three Identical Strangers is a facinating case study of three identical triplets separated at birth only to be accidentally reunited at the age of 19, and the darkness surrounding their separation and its aftermath. It is a great classroom tool for delving into the "nature vesus nurture" debate. This digital download (.docx) provides a film guide with content questions "interrrupted" with discussion questions to be used in small group or whole class conversations. Also included is a worksheet to

This listening guide (questions with answers, along with discussion questions) in an editable .docx format goes along with an episode of Criminal, my favorite true crime podcast. Listen to the episode titled 527 Lime Street HERE. GREAT FOR REMOTE AND HYBRID CLASSROOMS!!! Episode 135: 527 Lime Street- Just before midnight on October 15, 1990, police arrived at 527 Lime Street in Jacksonville, Florida to find the small wood-frame house on fire. A man named Gerald Lewis was standing in the fron

This podcast is the extraordinary story of Henrietta Lacks. Though she died of cervical cancer in 1951, she unknowingly held the key to unlocking medical advancements (from polio vaccines to chemotherapy drugs) in her tumor cells. After taking a biopsy of Henrietta's cervical cancer, researcher Dr. George Gey discovered that Henrietta's cells could not only reproduce, but THRIVE outside the body--a breakthrough that would change modern medicine. Later, it was found that Henrietta's cells were

The Bear Brook Murders : An Interrupted Case Study Using a Popular PodcastIn 1985, a hunter walking through Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire made a grisly discovery: a 55 gallon drum left deep in the woods, containing two sets of skeletonized remains, which investigators believed had been left in the woods for years….    ....this is just the beginning to a facinating tale of a murder that would make forensic history! The effort to solve the many mysteries surrounding this inves

This listening guide (questions with answers, along with discussion questions) in an editable .docx format goes along with an episode of Criminal, my favorite true crime podcast. Listen to the episode titled All the Time in the World HERE. GREAT FOR REMOTE AND HYBRID CLASSROOMS!!! Criminal is an award-winning podcast about true crime. Host Phoebe Judge tells the stories of “people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle,” all with a voice that is soothing des

This listening guide (questions with answers, along with discussion questions) in an editable .docx format goes along with an episode of Criminal, my favorite true crime podcast. Listen to the episode titled Jolly Jane HERE. GREAT FOR REMOTE AND HYBRID CLASSROOMS!!! A fantastic and engaging sub plan! Episode 38: Jolly Jane- Jane Toppan was born in Massachusetts in 1857. She attended the Cambridge Nursing School, and established a successful private nursing career in Boston. Said to be cheerfu

This listening guide (questions with answers, along with discussion questions) in an editable .docx format goes along with an episode of Criminal, my favorite true crime podcast. Listen to the episode titled La Brea Dave HERE. GREAT FOR REMOTE AND HYBRID CLASSROOMS!!! Episode 136: La Brea Dave- Sgt. David Mascarenas was the Dive Supervisor for the Los Angeles Police Department. He’s been diving his whole life, and prides himself on never refusing a dive, no matter how treacherous. At least unt

This listening guide (questions with answers, along with discussion questions) in an editable .docx format goes along with the first episode of Criminal, my favorite true crime podcast. Listen to the episode titled Animal Instincts HERE. GREAT FOR REMOTE AND HYBRID CLASSROOMS!!! Criminal is an award-winning podcast about true crime. Host Phoebe Judge tells the stories of “people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle,” all with a voice that is soothing despit

This listening guide (questions with answers, along with discussion questions) in an editable .docx format goes along with an episode of Criminal, my favorite true crime podcast. Listen to the episode titled Red Hair, Gold Car HERE. GREAT FOR REMOTE AND HYBRID CLASSROOMS!!! Criminal is an award-winning podcast about true crime. Host Phoebe Judge tells the stories of “people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle,” all with a voice that is soothing despite th

This listening guide (questions with answers, along with discussion questions) in an editable .docx format goes along with an episode of Criminal, my favorite true crime podcast. Listen to the episode titled The Botanist HERE. GREAT FOR REMOTE AND HYBRID CLASSROOMS!!! Episode 78: The Botanist- In 1993, Gerald Boggs of Steamboat Springs, Colorado was found dead in his home. He’d been burned with a stun gun, hit with a shovel, and shot several times. The victim’s wife, Jill Coit, was the primar

This listening guide (questions with answers, along with discussion questions) in an editable .docx format goes along with an episode of Criminal, my favorite true crime podcast. Listen to the episode titled 76th and Yates HERE. GREAT FOR REMOTE AND HYBRID CLASSROOMS!!! A fantastic and engaging sub plan! Episode 150: 76th and Yates- On May 8, 2013, a man named Timothy Jones was arrested in Chicago. He says it wasn’t until he got to the police station that he found out that he was being charge

DescriptionReviewsQ&AThis listening guide (questions with answers, along with discussion questions) in an editable .docx format goes along with an episode of Criminal, my favorite true crime podcast. Listen to the episode titled The Buck Stops Here HERE. GREAT FOR REMOTE AND HYBRID CLASSROOMS!!! Episode 3: The Buck Stops Here- With the advent of the Inkjet printer, counterfeiting money became as simple as a trip to Staples. By the year 2000, there were 72 million of these homemade dollars in c

Based upon the critically-acclaimed Chernobyl miniseries from HBO, this video guide accompanies episode 3 of the 5 part drama.  The film is a painstakingly accurate account of the worst nuclear accident in human history. This can be used in a physics class for topics of nuclear chemistry, world history class for historical discussions of the accident and the Soviet Union during the cold war, environmental science class for the effects of the accident on the environment, or a biology class dis

Based upon the critically-acclaimed Chernobyl miniseries from HBO, this video guide accompanies episode 5 of the 5 part drama.  The film is a painstakingly accurate account of the worst nuclear accident in human history. This can be used in a physics class for topics of nuclear chemistry, world history class for historical discussions of the accident and the Soviet Union during the cold war, environmental science class for the effects of the accident on the environment, or a biology class d

This "interrupted" podcast activity uses the popular Radiolab podcast to introduce the important but complex topic of the CRISPR gene editing technique. This question and answer worksheet has students follow along with the podcast (link provided), answering questions as they go, but "interrupts" the podcast to have students think more deeply about the ethics and implications of this powerful new technology. The discussion questions can be used in small groups or whole class conversations. Thi

Based upon the critically-acclaimed Chernobyl miniseries from HBO, this video guide accompanies episode 4 of the 5 part drama.  The film is a painstakingly accurate account of the worst nuclear accident in human history. This can be used in a physics class for topics of nuclear chemistry, world history class for historical discussions of the accident and the Soviet Union during the cold war, environmental science class for the effects of the accident on the environment, or a biology class di