Sticky Fingers Activity (Individual)
Sticky Fingers Activity (Individual)
Sticky Fingers Activity (Individual)
Name:____________________________________________Date:________________Block:________
Wed Jan 17,27 4
STICKY FINGERS
Part 1: Are some kinds of ngerprints more common than others?
1. Press your nger into the ink, then gently press it against the balloon. Use a different part
of the balloon if you want to use multiple ngerprints!
2. Blow up the balloon, watch the ngerprints expand and observe the details.
3. Use the fingerprint card to roll a complete set of your fingerprints. Use the technique
demonstrated by your teacher. It may also be a good idea to practice a few times on
a separate piece of paper.
4. Compare each of your ngerprints to the examples below.
5. Determine the pattern for each of your fingerprints and record your data below:
Thumb Index Middle Ring Pinky
Right Hand
whorl whorl whorl whorl whorl
Left Hand
whorl whorl loop whorl loop
6. Predict the overall percentages (using numbers) of each type for our class? Do you
think we will be very different from the national averages or similar?
13. How does our class averages of types of fingerprints compare to the national
populations for loops, whorls, and arches? How do your personal averages compare to
the national percentages? Would you predict that another class would have averages
closer to the national average values? Explain.
a bigger group
STICKY FINGERS
Part 2: Do the suspect’s fingerprints match those at the crime scene?
Three weeks ago a local bakery was robbed at gunpoint. The thief wore a
mask, so even when the police found a suspect the bakery owner couldn’t make
a positive ID. However, as the CSI processed the scene, several prints were
collected from various parts of the bakery. See evidence on the following page.
The police have identied a suspect, but he says he’s never been to that
bakery. It’s your job to see if the suspect’s ngerprints match any of those
recovered at the scene of the crime.
1. Categorize the ngerprint type for all of the suspect prints and the crime scene
prints (on the next page) as loops, whorls or arches.
3. Using the data from the national population, would you say this suspect has
common ngerprints? Explain why or why not?
4. Do any of the crime scene ngerprints match the suspect’s ngerprints? Label
any matching crime scene prints with the hand and nger they come from.
5. Do any of the crime scene prints NOT match the suspect’s prints? Who do
you think could have contributed these prints?
surface
yes maybe a bad
6. Do you think the suspect committed this crime? Explain why or why not?
nn