Prints and Patterns

Crime scene investigators practice collecting fingerprints off of surfaces in order to compare them to an imaginary crime suspect's prints. Instructions for using graphite powder and a Zephyr brush to collect the evidence are outlined....

Students examine a "Bird of Paradise Quilt Top" to discover what the themes and patterns tell about mid-nineteenth-century America.  In this American Folk Art lesson, students discuss the possible creator of the quilt and the...

Learners recover latent prints by iodine fuming, cyanoacrylate fuming, and dusting with powder, after a lecture/discussion on fingerprinting techniques. They each provide a fingerprint for identification by another student. A database of...

Students explore the art of printmaking. They discuss relief prints and the art of fish printing (Gyotaku). They view examples of the artwork of Gyotaku and also observe the various characteristics of different species of fish. Finally...

Research patterns in nature which illustrate biological and mathematical concepts. Your class will discover and explore aspects of fractals, Fibonaccis numbers, whale and butterfly migration patterns, whale identification, flower...

By overlapping combs and window screening and by looking at a printed set of consecutively larger circles, learners observe Moire patterns, which provide a visual of what happens during wave interference. 

In this fingerprint pattern worksheet, students use lead pencils and paper to create prints of their fingers. They find their fingerprint patterns and compare them to their peers. They also identify a "mystery" print.

A video exploring how genes influence the general shape your finger prints make. Learn the different patterns of fingerprints and when finger prints form in utero. [3:04]

Students list and describe the three types of fingerprint patterns. They list and describe three layers of fingerprints that can be made. They explain why we leave fingerprints.

This site is geared more toward a consumer than a student, but it does list, describe, and in some cases compare each of the primary identification methods (fingerprints, iris recognition, voice, etc).