Description
Beginning – Easy to perform; requires little or no knowledge.
Students act as crime scene technicians to figure out which pieces of evidence from multiple crime scenes contain potentially useful DNA information. By detecting amylase activity, students infer the presence/absence of saliva on the evidence.
Students learn why the detection of saliva is important at a crime scene, as well as how the amylase enzyme works. Materials supplied are for 6 groups of 4 students each to examine 4 different pieces of evidence.