Hannah, Cami, Maura, Claire

Fingerprint Lesson
Objectives:
● Students will be able to learn the difference between whorl fingerprints, loop
fingerprints, and arch fingerprints.
● Students will be able to use their knowledge of loops, whorls, and arches to
determine who the fingerprints at the crime belong to.
● Students will be able to draw conclusions based on evidence.

Materials:
● Post-it notes
● Pencils
● Paper
● Tape
● Envelopes with suspects’ fingerprints

Engage:

“Does anyone know what a Mascot is?”

● Introduce what the mascot competition is. We will play a short clip from this
video of the actual competition.
● Then, begin to explain that the competition for Loras’ division is taking place
today at the Rock Bowl right at Loras. We will then get a “call” explaining how
Dewey has gone missing and ask us if we could help with the help of the 5th
graders at St. Columbkille.
● We are going to introduce our first step to finding who has taken Dewey. We will
introduce all of the mascot’s that were in attendance at the time Dewey went
missing. After we have named all the mascots, we will read the ransom note that
was left there.
● Then, we will ask if the students can think of any way that we can tell who wrote
this letter.
○ If no student comes up with something about fingerprints, then we could
use probes such as “If only there was a way to see who has touched this
letter”
● Then, we will explain how fingerprints would work because it is easy to identify
someone by their fingerprint.

Explore:
● There are 3 different types of fingerprints; whorl, arch, and loop. We have the
types here on the board for you to see (point to each and tell the students which
Hannah, Cami, Maura, Claire

type it is). What we are going to do is take a look at our own fingerprints and
determine what kinds of fingerprints we have.
● We are going to model our fingerprints first, so watch closely to see how we do
this! What you will need is a post-it note, a sheet of paper, a pencil (non-
mechanical would work best), and a piece of tape, which we will have at the front
of the room.
● What you want to do first is run your pencil back and forth on your piece of paper
and create a little square of graphite (demonstrate for the students). You want to
make sure you get a decent amount of graphite on your paper, so don’t be shy!
● Once you have your graphite, you will press your finger down onto the paper like
so (demonstrate for students). It does not matter what finger you use, but try to
keep your finger flat on your paper so that you can get a nice fingerprint!
● Now that you have some graphite on your finger, you will take a piece of tape
and press your finger on to the tape (demonstrate for students). I would
recommend keeping your tape on the desk and keeping your finger as flat as
possible to ensure you get a good fingerprint.
● Next, you will take your piece of tape and place it on your sticky note.
(demonstrate for students) On the board, we have a designated spot for each
style of fingerprints (show the students the spot on the board). Once you put your
tape on the sticky note, you will need to put your name on it and then put it on the
board based on your fingerprint type. If you have a loop fingerprint, you will put it
under the loop section, if you have a whorl you will put it under whorl, if you have
an arch you will put it under arch.
● Are there any questions? (allow time for any questions)
● Assign students roles; have students determine who is number 1,2, and 3.
Students who are number 1 will be the discussion leader, students who are
number 2 will be the recorder, students who are number 3 will be in charge of
grabbing materials.
● Go ahead and begin collecting your fingerprints!

Explain:
● According to some studies, loops constitute about 60 percent of the total
fingerprint patterns, whorls make up about 30 percent, and arches account for
the 5 percent
● Let’s check our information and compare our results with the ones I just
mentioned before.
● We are going to organize our post-its in a bar graph to see if the percentages
are accurate
● Once we see the difference, we will compare our results with the percentages of
each fingerprint
Hannah, Cami, Maura, Claire

● Then with our mathematical abilities we are going to get the classroom
percentages and compare them with the ones we talked about at the beginning

● The bar graph will look something like this

Extend:
● Now that we have taken a look at our own fingerprints, we are going to look at
the fingerprints of all of the mascots, except for Dewey.
● In the front of the room here, we have envelopes that contain the fingerprints of
each mascot. You will need to observe each set of fingerprints and record what
type they have in your journal, which we will pass out to each group. (pass out
packets to each group)
● Your worksheet has a grid with each mascot’s name and then, whorl, arch, or
loop. If you think that the mascot you are looking at as loop prints, then you will
put a check in the loop box.
● When you have gotten through all of the suspect’s fingerprints, you will need to
raise your hand and then you will be given the fingerprints that were found at the
scene of the crime. You will then determine whether the fingerprints left behind
are a whirl, arch, or loop.
● The discussion leader of your group needs to make sure that your group is
discussing what you are seeing, your recorder will record what your results are,
and the person in charge of materials will be the person who comes up and
grabs the envelopes.
Hannah, Cami, Maura, Claire

● Any questions? (allow students time to ask)

Evaluate:
● Hand out packet to kids
● Examine the results they got from the fingerprint test
● Compare and contrast the suspects fingerprints
● Have students decide who they think the suspect, with evidence to back up their
answer.