This Forensic Science Autopsy Report activity is a great way to reinforce student learning of Death Investigations. This is designed to be used after students have learned how to identify evidence in death.
The form includes places for students to record information about:
- Types of wounds and when they happened (post or perimortem)
- Rigor and Livor Mortis
- State of the eyes (for signs of asphyxiation and time since death)
- Entomological evidence
- Toxicology evidence
- Internal examination of the organs, including contents of the digestive system
- Time since last meal
- Postmortem interval
- A summary of the cause of death
Resource can be edited to meet your classroom needs!
Take a look at this Preview of the Forensic Autopsy Report vf/ bjnjyuiok,./activity.
The Autopsy Report can be printed, or completed digitally on the provided Google Slides digital copy! Perfect for distance learning, or just to save paper!
Here are a few ways you could use the Autopsy Report:
- Have students make up a murder story and type it out with detail about age, gender, cause of death, time since death, location of the body, etc. Have students swap and read someone else’s story. As they do, they can fill out the Autopsy Report with the evidence they expect to find on the body considering how and when they died.
- Have students make up a murder but fill out the Autopsy Report, and swap with another student. Have the student then use the report to form a story about how the murder happened.
- The teacher (or the students, and swap) can fill out the Autopsy Report but leave the last sections blank – the Post Mortem Interval, Type of Death and Cause of death. Students use the evidence in the report to complete these sections.
- If you really want to get into it – use dissecting rats as a stand in for your body! This is so much fun, your students will never forget it!
Full Teacher’s Guide explains four ways the Autopsy Report can be used in your Forensic Science class. Including a how-to guide for transforming a dissection rat into a murder victim!
The Forensic Autopsy Report activity has fifteen 5-star reviews on Teachers Pay Teachers! Here is what a few happy teachers are saying!
This resource will be used at the end of my forensic science course in conjunction with their final crime scene project. It is really well put together and is a great culmination of the unit, not to mention it’s a great talking point about cause, manner and mechanism of death. – November 14, 2020
Great addition to an autopsy unit! – Amanda M. August 3, 2021
A great resource to use as a review for an Autopsy report or combine it with an imaginary story. – Patricia K. April 20, 2021
Click the link to get the Forensic Autopsy Report for your classroom!
Need more Forensics Death Investigation resources?
- Forensics Death Investigation: Notes, Activity and Review – Interactive Google Slides teaches your students about Time Since Death, Manner and Cause of Death, and the job of the Medical Examiner. Includes an activity and Google Form review questions. The resource can be 100% digital, and no prep.
- Estimate Time Since Death – NO PREP! Everything your students need to learn what happens to a body after death, and then use those skills to estimate when Zelda died. Was it accidental death, or murder??
- Secrets of the Body Farm Video Guide – a fun documentary that students always enjoy! The Body Farm, located in TN, is home to a few dozen donated bodies, where Forensic Scientists go to learn about human decomposition.
- Autopsy Report Activity! There are many ways to use this resource in your class to reinforce learning about autopsies, entomology, cause of death, and time since death. Digital and Print options!
- Forensics Stages of Decay: Learn the five stages of decomposition to determine the time since death (post mortem interval). A great addition to your Forensics Death Investigation unit! This is designed to be a student independent activity, no direct instruction is needed!
- Forensic Autopsy Medical Examiner Terms: Notes + Activity: Teach the terms used by Forensic Pathologists / Medical Examiners when they perform an Autopsy! Interactive Google Slides, Printable Notes and Hands on Activity!
- BUGS! Forensic Entomology Notes + Activity: Students learn how to measure maggots to determine the time since death! Digital activity – no prep!
- BONES! Forensic Anthropology Death Investigation: Notes + Activity: Teach your students how to be Forensic Anthropologists! Learn to read bones and determine gender, height and age. Then solve a Missing Person Case!