This packet is everything a parent or guide needs to assess Unit 01 at home — the learning targets, the answers that count as correct, the mastery rubric, calibration examples, and a clipboard score sheet. No multiple-choice test: the student shows mastery by processing a mock scene and reasoning from the evidence aloud.
By the end of the Crime Scene & Evidence unit, a student should be able to:
Six criteria, each judged Not yet / Approaching / Mastered (Page 3).
A measured sketch, scale photographs, and a sealed evidence log — done live.
The student reasons from the evidence aloud (Page 4 anchors).
Contemporaneous record of the search, the sketch, and the custody log.
You are making a decision, not adding up points. For each criterion, decide whether the work is Not yet, Approaching, or Mastered — the column language tells you which. A criterion counts as mastered only when the student can both do the work at the scene and defend the honest limits of the conclusion. A student carries three tokens per term; one token buys a re-do of one criterion on another day, so a single bad afternoon never sinks the unit.
Accept any answer in the synonyms column — they are pre-approved as equivalent. The third column flags the confusions that look close but are not yet, so you can coach precisely.
| Canonical answer | Accepted synonyms | Common confusion / discriminator |
|---|---|---|
| The scene | ||
| Primary scene | scene of the act | Where the act itself occurred; secondary scenes are linked locations |
| Secondary scene | linked scene | Tied to the act but not where it happened (e.g. a disposal site) |
| Evidence marker | numbered marker; placard | Numbers an item in place before it is photographed or moved |
| Locard’s exchange principle | every contact leaves a trace | The reason to look for transferred trace at all |
| Documentation | ||
| Contemporaneous notes | on-the-spot notes; timed notes | Written at the scene, dated and timed — not reconstructed later |
| Scale photography | L-scale photo; photo with a ruler | An L-scale in frame lets a viewer judge true size |
| Measured sketch | to-scale sketch; scene diagram | Item positions fixed by measurement to two reference points |
| Chain of custody | custody log | An unbroken, signed record of everyone who held an item |
| Handling & integrity | ||
| Contamination | cross-contamination | Foreign material added after the fact; degrades what an item can show |
| Evidence packaging | bagging; sealing | Each item isolated in its own labeled, sealed container |
| Known vs. questioned | reference vs. unknown | A control sample compared against evidence of unknown origin |
| Report vs. verdict | analyst reports; court decides | The analyst states what evidence shows; guilt is the court’s call |
| Criterion | Not yet | Approaching | Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Systematic scene observation & search | Glances around and grabs what stands out. | Searches but misses areas or works without a pattern. | Works a defined search pattern methodically and records what is present and absent. |
| Contemporaneous notes & documentation | Relies on memory and writes it up later. | Takes notes but they are incomplete or not timed. | Keeps dated, timed, factual notes with no conclusions baked in. |
| Sketch & scale photography | Rough sketch with no measurements or scale. | Sketches or photographs but omits a scale or key measurements. | Produces a measured sketch with a north arrow and photographs every item with an L-scale before it is moved. |
| Evidence recognition, collection & packaging | Handles items bare-handed or mixes them together. | Collects but mislabels or over-handles items. | Recognizes, isolates, and packages each item in the correct container with a unique number, minimizing contamination. |
| Chain of custody | Cannot account for who held an item. | Logs some transfers but leaves gaps. | Maintains an unbroken, signed chain and can explain why a broken chain can make evidence inadmissible. |
| Integration (cross-domain) | Treats the science as isolated facts; makes no cross-domain connection. | Names a link to history, reading, or writing but cannot defend why it matters. | Connects scene documentation and evidence handling to its anchor across History · Reading · Writing and defends why the connection matters. |
Work down the criteria one at a time. Ask the student to reason it out rather than recall — “what does your sketch actually let you claim?” The honest limit (what the documentation supports, and what it does not) is where Approaching and Mastered separate. Collecting an item is Approaching; defending why the chain and the notes make it trustworthy is Mastered.
Read these before you grade. They show what Mastered and Not yet actually sound like, plus the edge cases where you should coach rather than decide on the spot.
Student: ______________________________________ Date: _______________ Guide: _________________________
| # | Criterion | Decision | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Systematic scene observation & search | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 2 | Contemporaneous notes & documentation | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 3 | Sketch & scale photography | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 4 | Evidence recognition, collection & packaging | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 5 | Chain of custody | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 6 | Integration (cross-domain) | NY / Appr / Mast |
☐ No ☐ Yes — for criterion: __________ Tokens remaining: ☐ 3 ☐ 2 ☐ 1 ☐ 0
NY = Not yet · Appr = Approaching · Mast = Mastered · Unsure between two levels? Circle the lower one and note what a re-do would need.