In forensic investigations, many situations need to be recreated or modeled in order to find the answers the investigators are looking for. These activities expose students to different modeling tools that are used by computational scientists. These models, for example, can determine the difference between a cup being dropped accidentally or it being thrown, or even differentiate between suicide and homicide.
Modeling the Spread of a Computer Virus Students will learn how to model the process by which computer viruses are spread.
Creating a Scent Model Students will learn how to model something that can be tracked through scent. In this case, the tracking model is of a dog sniffing out stolen cookies.
Modeling Projectile Motion Students will learn how to create a basic model of an object falling through the air. This will allow them to determine the feasibility of something being thrown or simply falling.
Stapleton's Fall Students will learn how to create another model of an object falling through the air. This is slightly more complex than the "Modeling Projectile Motion" activity because it incorporates air resistance.
Virus Hunter Investigation Students will learn how to create a basic Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) model. This will model the process by which a disease spreads through individuals. This can be used to model something like a school environment or something much larger such as an entire country's population.
Decomposition of a Human Body Students will learn how to model the decomposition of a human body. This model will measure the time needed for a human cadaver of some total body weight to decompose down to skeleton.
Alcohol Neutralization Students will build a model of alcohol metabolism to discover whether a man is lying about how much alcohol he had to drink.
The Infertile Couple Students will act as interns at a public health clinic. A couple comes in with infertility problems. During the course of their clinic visit, students will discover that the father and the couple's daughter are both afflicted with the same genetic disease. Students will use online resources to discover which disease they are suffering from.
Bungee Jumping! Students will model a bungee jumper jumping from a platform. Using the model, students will recreate the conditions of the act, and verify the validity of other testimonies.
Flu Epidemic Students will construct a flu epidemic model and track the spread of the epidemic. Using the model, students will determine which of the three originally infected students was the source of the flu that was so virulent it affected nearly everyone in the school.