JoinAll Case Studies
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In keyword search, list the criteria you would like to find cases. Multiple criteria can be listed separated by commas (i.e. directed, high school)
Educational levels are defined as follows: Elementary, Middle, High School, College
Types of cases are defined as follows: Analysis/Issues, Clicker, Debate, Intimate Debate, Demonstration, Dilemma/Decision, Directed, Discussion, Interrupted, Jig-saw, Journal Article, Laboratory, Student Presentations, Mini-case, Problem-Based Learning, Public Hearing, Role-Play, Trial, Flipped, Game
By Nora S. Green
This case study places students in the role of forensic chemists at the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center. They are tasked with determining the biological age of skeletal remains found in a recently purchased home. With no hits in t...
By Nora S. Green
In this interrupted case, students take on the role of a trainee forensic chemist completing their final performance test in a toxicology laboratory. The trainee’s performance test involves a healthy man who was found dead in his apartment. Numerou...
By Amy C. Groth
The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, was first detected in China in late 2019 and rapidly spread throughout the globe in the first few months of 2020. Efforts to slow the spread of the virus in the ...
By Kimberly S. Farah
This directed case study was written to help students understand both organic and inorganic analysis of forensic evidence. It tells the story of a fire at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Daisy who are found deceased on the property, both with gunshot wounds...
By Mackenzie A. Hahn, Hannah C. Schake, Ryan T. Schalles, Sarah R. Shioji, Breanna N. Harris
Was the "Brooklyn Butcher" of 1926 a cold-blooded killer or was something less sinister at play? This interrupted case study introduces students to hemoglobin binding and carbon monoxide poisoning by working through the details of a fictionalized acc...
By Cheryld L. Emmons
This interrupted case study examines molecular genetic evidence reported in scientific literature to determine the fate of Louis-Charles, son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette of France. Controversy and rumors surrounding the death of Louis-Charles s...
The Sad But True Case of Earl Washington
By Justin F. Shaffer
In 1983, Earl Washington "confessed" to a violent crime that he did not commit and was sentenced to death row. After spending seventeen years in prison for something he didn't do, Earl was released in 2001 after his innocence was proven through the u...
By Eric Ribbens, Andrew C. Lydeard
Did Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, have children with his slave Sally Hemings? This PowerPoint clicker case explores this controversial question as students consider the evidence for Jefferson as the father of Eston Hemings, ...
By Kuei-Chiu Chen
This "clicker case" is based on several articles published in 2010 that determined the genealogy of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun based on microsatellite DNA analysis. The case begins with a description of the seven royal mummies found in ...
Murder by HIV? Grades 5-8 Edition
By Michèle I. Shuster, Naowarat (Ann) Cheeptham, Laura B. Regassa
This case study gives students an opportunity to draw a conclusion about an actual crime that was prosecuted in Louisiana. A physician was accused of intentionally infecting his ex-girlfriend with HIV-tainted blood drawn from a patient in his practic...
Murder by HIV? Grades 9-12 Edition
By Laura B. Regassa, Naowarat (Ann) Cheeptham, Michèle I. Shuster
This case study gives students an opportunity to draw a conclusion about an actual crime that was prosecuted in Louisiana. A physician was accused of intentionally infecting his ex-girlfriend with HIV-tainted blood drawn from a patient in his practic...
Murder by HIV? Undergraduate Edition
By Naowarat (Ann) Cheeptham, Laura B. Regassa, Michèle I. Shuster
This case study gives students an opportunity to draw a conclusion about an actual crime that was prosecuted in Louisiana. A physician was accused of intentionally infecting his ex-girlfriend with HIV-tainted blood drawn from a patient in his practic...
By Phoebe R. Stubblefield, Elizabeth Scharf
Students explore the issues involved in investigating and reporting on a scatter of skeletal remains to the police in this case study. In addition, the case teaches students about skeletal identification and the quantification of skeletal eleme...
The Case of the Druid Dracula: Clicker Case Version
By Norris Armstrong, Terry Platt, Peggy Brickman
This “clicker case” is a modified version of another case in our collection by the same name. It uses a PowerPoint presentation (~3MB) to present the case, which is punctuated by multiple-choice questions that students answer in class using hand-...
By Wayne Shew (rr)
This case, based on an actual case of product tampering that occurred in Seattle in 1986, was designed for use in an introductory course in forensic science for non-science majors. By working through the case, students gain an understanding of the va...
By Peggy Brickman
This case is based on a lurid crime featured on the BBC program Crimewatch in December 2001 that was solved thanks to forensic DNA analysis. Students learn how the structure of DNA and the mechanism used by cells to duplicate DNA were critical to the...
By Adam M. Boyd, Randolph K. Larsen, III
In this lab-based case, arson investigator “Marie Stanforth” comes under suspicion when her ex-husband dies in a fire. Students assume the role of forensic chemists working for the FBI to analyze charred samples recovered from the crime scene as ...
A Classic Case of Serial Murder
By Karen Altendorf, Alan Cheville
In this case study, a newly appointed medical examiner uncovers an unusual trend in drowning cases, which she suspects may be the work of a serial murderer. To prove that she is right, she must rely on instrumentation designed and tested by a team of...
Accidental Drowning or Foul Play?
By Monika I. Konaklieva
This case was developed for use in the first semester of a sophomore organic chemistry laboratory to illustrate how a combination of techniques is usually required in the identification of chemical compounds. It involves a murder mystery with a foren...
By Alease S. Bruce
In this case study, a forensic anthropologist must determine the age and sex as well as look for signs of trauma to a skeleton found in a shallow grave in a state park. Students simulate the actual procedures used in a forensics lab and learn to iden...
By Karen Chambers
This case explores the fundamental principles of memory, eyewitness accuracy, and police questioning techniques in witness identification in a criminal case. By studying the details of an actual series of attacks and the subsequent police investigati...