Project Overview
Carleton Comet went on a picnic with Nancy Normal, Sam Sophomore, Theresa Terra, Fred Flimmer, and Glen Glee. At 7:35pm, the sky darkened and Carleton Comet was brutally murdered. On the scene, the murder weapon which was a steak knife was bagged and sent to the lab for us to analyze. The murder weapon had hair and two blood types on it. We also found fingerprints and a death note on the scene. We also looked at the family pedigrees and karyotypes of each suspect. You can view all our evidence in the presentation below.
Concepts
Homicide: the taking of a human life
Types of murder:
Gene: sequence of DNA that codes for a protein and thus determines a trait.
Genotype: genetic makeup of an organism
Phenotype: physical characteristics of an organism
Alleles: one of a number of different forms of a gene
Dominant: has power over the recessive traits
Recessive: falls under dominant
Co-dominant: when both alleles of a gene contribute to the phenotype of the organism
Incomplete Dominant: situation in which one allele is not completely dominant over another
Polygenic: trait controlled by two or more genes
Homozygous: term used to refer to an organism that has two identical alleles for a particular trait
Heterozygous: term used to refer to an organism that has two different alleles for a particular trait
Segregation: separation of alleles during gamete formation
Probability: likelihood that a particular event will occur
Types of murder:
- First degree murder is the most serious of all homicide charges. It applies to situations in which someone is accused of killing another person after having planned to kill the victim. It requires malice and evil intent beforehand.
- Second degree murder usually applies to cases in which someone may have intended to kill another, but did not have time to plan it (a crime of passion).
- Manslaughter is when the accused did not plan the crime nor did he or she intend for the victim to die because of his or her actions.
Gene: sequence of DNA that codes for a protein and thus determines a trait.
Genotype: genetic makeup of an organism
Phenotype: physical characteristics of an organism
Alleles: one of a number of different forms of a gene
Dominant: has power over the recessive traits
Recessive: falls under dominant
Co-dominant: when both alleles of a gene contribute to the phenotype of the organism
Incomplete Dominant: situation in which one allele is not completely dominant over another
Polygenic: trait controlled by two or more genes
Homozygous: term used to refer to an organism that has two identical alleles for a particular trait
Heterozygous: term used to refer to an organism that has two different alleles for a particular trait
Segregation: separation of alleles during gamete formation
Probability: likelihood that a particular event will occur
Reflection
There were good and bad things about this project. Overall, I really liked the freedom we had in the project, but there were also times in the project that were slow and not everyone was working. One peak, a good thing, about this project was our critical thinking skills. Each group had to come up with their own reasons to convict one suspect based on the evidence. I think we made a good case for our warrant and we came up with some reasons, like one of our motives that other groups didn't say. One pit, or bad thing, was our attitude towards the project. I feel like our whole class in general needs to be more accepting of everything we do in class and we need to have less in class distractions. Another pit was our presentation of evidence. We didn't get our warrant, so we could've been more clear in our presentation. Finally, another peak was our group's work ethic. We actually got everything we wanted to get done in a reasonable amount of time, because every single person in our group did work. Overall, I would want to do this project again, but not be limited by the amount of evidence our teacher gives us. We should be able decide what evidence we should collect and if it doesn't exist, the teacher or whoever made the case should make the evidence for us. For example, being able to interview the suspects would be helpful.