Forensic Investigation: Crime Scenes & Case Strategy

• Document a mock scene through notes, sketches, diagrams, and photography

• Preserve evidence and maintain a clear chain of custody

• Analyze fingerprints, fibers, DNA, and bloodstain patterns

• Examine ballistics, toxicology, and digital evidence

• Practice respectful witness interviewing and lineup procedures

• Compile and present a comprehensive investigation report

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Apply foundational crime-scene documentation and evidence-preservation procedures

• Analyze multiple evidence types and explain their investigative relevance

• Develop and defend a comprehensive crime-scene report

Students leave with completed forensic analyses, an investigation report, and a stronger understanding of ethical, scientific, and legal responsibilities in evidence work.

Forensic science depends on the integrity of both evidence and process. A result can lose meaning if a scene is poorly documented, a sample is mishandled, or chain of custody is unclear. Students learn why careful procedure supports credible conclusions.

Interviewing and lineup topics add legal and human responsibility. Students consider how investigators can gather information without retraumatizing witnesses or disregarding constitutional rights. These skills strengthen scientific reasoning, documentation, empathy, and ethical judgment. Together, these skills strengthen careful reasoning, responsible professional judgment, and the ability to revise a conclusion when new evidence changes the picture.

This course is for high school students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and are interested in forensic science, criminal justice, biology, chemistry, digital investigation, or law. It fits students who enjoy careful observation and evidence-based problem-solving.

Participants should be ready to follow procedures, document details, work with sensitive scenarios responsibly, collaborate on a mock investigation, and present findings. Patience, accuracy, and respect for witnesses and evidence are essential. Success depends on careful preparation, steady participation, and respect for classmates’ perspectives throughout the course.

Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 program at the University of Michigan.

Programs on the University of Michigan campus give high-school students the experience of exploring an academic interest in Ann Arbor, a college town where campus and community life blend together. Tree-lined streets, downtown bookstores and cafés, the Nichols Arboretum, and trails near the Huron River create different ways to experience the setting beyond class.

Students learn alongside peers, navigate a large and active campus, and gain independence through everyday choices in a new environment. The experience helps students understand what university life can feel like while giving them space to deepen an interest without having every next step decided. For families, the program offers a meaningful combination of academic depth, community, personal growth, and clearer direction about what a student may want to study or pursue next.

Crime-scene investigators, laboratory analysts, digital-forensics specialists, photographers, law-enforcement officers, and attorneys contribute different expertise to a case. Their work depends on shared procedures and records that others can review.

Students sample that collaboration through scene processing, witness interviewing, physical and digital evidence analysis, report writing, and a final presentation. The experience offers a practical introduction to forensic science, criminal justice, laboratory analysis, law, and investigation. The work also shows how specialists collaborate across roles and communicate important evidence-based decisions to colleagues, clients, organizations, or the public in complex professional settings.