Title: Forensic Anthropology

Discipline: Life Science and Mathematics

Ability: 7^th and 8^th grade

Time: One class period

NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards:

Objectives:

To explain how Forensic Anthropologists use math to discover information about a skeleton.

Materials:

Skeleton; handout; tape measure or ruler; materials to make accurate and attractive graphs

Lesson:

This lesson was done in the math classes. I spoke for about ten minutes on how a Forensic Anthropologist used bone measurements to determine the age, sex, race and height of a skeleton at the time of death. We used a skeleton of an arm and leg to point out the radius, tibia and humerus. We spent the duration of the period completing the handout.

Handout:

Checklist:

• Measure your radius bone and the radius bone of every student in your class (Measure from the base of your thumb to the bend in your arm. Separate your data according to sex)
• Display the data in a graph (Choose the best type of graph for displaying the data)
• Find the mean, median, and mode
• Measure your tibia, humerus, and radius bone lengths to calculate your height