Teacher Resources

Age Group - Junior or Senior level, anatomy or biology

Time Frame:

Day 1 - Step 1, research and background information
Day 2 - Step 2, missing persons, reconstruct skeleton
Day 3 - Step 3, facial reconstructions, hands and skull

There are a few articles you can have them read prior to going to the lab.

The Girl Next Door - long article about how the identity of an unknown girl was discovered
Bone Specialist on Call - shorter article focused on the duties of a forensic anthropologist

Step 1

Students work mostly individually to research the listed pages and answer the questions. This will give them an understanding of the field and help them to identify the remains in the next steps.

There are four sets of bones to reconstruct, students working in groups can divide the labor.

*Check the links, sites will move them around periodically and the URL will be invalid. Often, you can find the page anyway, just at a slightly different address.

After they have researched their webpage,use the Bones Quiz or make your own

And here is key for the sets of bones and the quiz.