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Developed in partnership with the forensics professionals at Sirchie®, this activity offers your students the opportunity to become true crime scene investigators. Students take inkless footprints, which eliminate the risk for mess, while you demonstrate how to create a footwear cast like a forensics expert. Designed for 32 students and typically taking 2 class periods, this activity will surely leave an impression.

Make an impression during your next forensics lesson!
Give your students the opportunity to become crime scene technicians as they discover the science of footwear identification and casting. Students will:

• Observe and record footwear impressions
• Analyze and compare footwear prints, casts, and photographs
• Witness the footwear casting process
• Document the evidence collection process

Utilizing the same materials and tools as crime scene technicians worldwide, your students get an authentic first-hand experience with this activity. First, students make prints of their own shoes, using a special no-mess inkless shoe-print technology, to learn about pattern recognition. You then demonstrate the process of creating, cleaning, and handling a footwear cast using a no-mess, self-contained casting product designed specifically for crime scene field technicians. The activity requires about 65 min of class time on the first day, plus another 30 min of class time at least 24 hr later.

This activity is fully correlated to the Next Generation Science Standards® (NGSS). Kit equips a class of 32 students working in 8 groups of 4 and includes a digital teacher's manual and student guide for your convenience.

The Footwear Identification and Casting Kit and its materials were developed in partnership with the forensics experts at Sirchie®, giving you a real-life forensics experience. Since 1927, Sirchie® has been a global leader in criminal investigation solutions. Sirchie® products are used on a daily basis by law enforcement around the world to help them investigate and solve crimes. Sirchie® also conducts hands-on training classes, teaching the techniques and processes in this kit to law enforcement personnel, who then use what they have learned in their investigative work.

*Next Generation Science Standards® is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.