Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Our Best Fingerprinting Ever

We are using Sonlight Science 2 this year, and I have been very pleased with it. Included in the program is the book The Usborne Book of Science Activities.In this book, we have the learned the best technique for fingerprinting that we have ever tried. Place five pieces of masking tape on a piece of cardboard, rolled up, so there is a sticky side outward. Scribble with a pencil on a piece of paper, and then rub each finger in the pencil lead, one at a time. Place each finger on a piece of tape.
I needed to help hold the tape to the cardboard while the kids lifted their fingers off.
In the past, we have used ink, markers, and paint to take fingerprints, but these were certainly the clearest ones that we have ever done.
Mark has now posted the prints we took today on the wall. He plans to get the rest of the families prints over the next few days, so that if a crime is committed, he will be able to find the culprit.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's neat. You've given me an great idea for St. Francis' feast day and our Jim Arnosky unit, all wrapped up in one. :)

Anonymous said...

Our nonprofit patented a disposable kit for capturing fingerprints that go to the FBI to check backgrounds of volunteers who work in children's programs. Your idea is imaginative and somewhat similar to ours. It's a great opportunity to teach about what the FBI does, where it gets all those prints, and why the checks are done. Makes a nice lead-in to the difficult discussion about child sexual abuse and the various safety programs like "Good Touch Bad Touch" etc. Our method is popular because it is discreet, doesn't require workers to visit police stations.
Dave Allburn, National Fingerprint Lab. 740-767-3853