The Learning Institute

Forensic Science Course NCFE Level 2 accredited
Learn all about the fascinating subject of Forensic Science.

A footprint in the soil. Bloodstains on broken glass. A piece of material hanging on a thorn.
To the forensic investigator, each clue tells a story, matching the crime to the perpetrator as clearly as though he’d left his photograph on the kitchen table.

No wonder forensics is such a popular course. It combines state-of-the-art knowledge with the mystery of a crime novel.

But you don’t have to wade through endless academic material to understand the subject.

We explain everything clearly and concisely. That means you absorb the information faster.

Plus we make the subject interesting. Some courses manage to make forensics dull. And that’s not our way. All our course material is rigorously tested to make sure it’s lively and clear.

So if you want to learn more about forensics, this is the course for you.

The skills you gain from studying forensics
Forensics courses give you a wide range of invaluable skills. Here are some of the main ones:

• Organising
• Planning
• Communicating
• Critical evaluation
• Problem solving
• Working to deadlines
• Clear and logical thinking
• Research
• Analytical skills
• Gathering, assessing and interpreting information

Who’ll benefit from doing this forensics course?
The course is suitable for anyone who wants to know more about forensics.

People who find forensics especially useful, or who work in the field include:

Police officers
Prison service
Social workers
Youth work
Probation officers
Secret intelligence services
Local authorities employees
People working in the courts and judiciary
Government employees

But anyone who wants to know more about forensics will find this course absorbing.

Are there prior requirements for enrolling?
No, there are no prior requirements for enrolling on this course. You don’t need any specific qualifications. A desire to do the course and an open mind are essential.

Course length
Many learners complete this forensics course in 12 weeks. This is only an average time: Some do it faster, and others take longer. Because the course is home-learning, you learn at your own pace, and there are no deadlines for delivering your responses to the quizzes. However, you must complete the course within 12 months.

Study hours
You will need to allow around 90 hours to complete the course.

Format
Online format.

Your Qualification
You receive a Level 2 Award in Forensics from NCFE. You’ll also receive a Certificate in Forensics.

About the Award
This course is fully accredited as being equivalent to Level 2 of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland by NCFE.

About NCFE
NCFE is recognised as an awarding body by the qualification regulators for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The regulators are the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) in England, the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DCELLS) in Wales and the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in Northern Ireland. For further information, see www.ncfe.org.uk

Outcomes of the Course
At the end of the course, you'll gave gained the following advantages:

You’ll understand the essentials of forensics.
You’ll know how to collect and protect evidence.
You’ll learn how to take samples from live and dead bodies.
You’ll understand how the bodies can reveal evidence of drugs, poisons, and burns.
You’ll find out how to identify injuries such as blows of different types, and knife and gunshot wounds.
You’ll know how to find evidence of arson and vehicle movements.
You’ll understand how to find hidden evidence on computers
You’ll be aware of how to extract information from hairs and fibres, and other microscopic items such as pollen.

How the course works
The course consists of informative text for you to read, which are backed up by self assessment exercises which help to check that you’ve understood the text.

You’ll also have to complete four forensics-based quizzes.

Assessment
You will be assessed by 9 forensics-based quizzes.

There is no end-of-course exam. We assess your knowledge of the basis of the quizzes you complete (known as continuous assessment).

Location
You study the course at home or at work. You don’t attend a classroom. This means you can study when it’s convenient for you, rather than have to get to classes at places or times you may not be able to get to.

Forensic Science Course Contents
1. The crime scene: How to collect and protect evidence
Discovering a crime scene
How to secure a crime scene.
Pollution of the site through rain, sea water, oil, and human activity,
Friction ridges and impressions: shoes, tyres and tools
Blood spatter patterns
Firearms patterns
Soil samples – was the victim moved?
Locating fingerprints and traces of materials
Taking forensic photographs
Major incidents. Massacres

2. Criminal mindset, and criminal behaviour
The psychology of the criminal
Psychological profiling
The main causes of violent crime.
Lie detectors

3. What’s it all about?
A short history of forensics
Breakthroughs in forensics
Who does what in forensics?
How forensics is used to convict criminals (and protect the innocent)

4. Fingerprints: simply unique
Where fingerprints appear in the crime scene.
Taking fingerprints from the crime scene
Classification of fingerprints.
The structure of the skin
Sweat
How to find and then enhance latent (or hidden) fingerprints

5. Fire and arson
How fires start – deliberate and accidental
Explosions. Tests for Explosives
Burns – the effect on the body
Risks of entering a fire damaged building
Risks of entering a building which is on fire

6. The body
How to identify a dead body
Scars, marks, dental records
The forensic autopsy: understanding how people die
Establishing the time of death
Rigor mortis
Pooling of blood in the corpse (lividity)
Traumatic injuries and deaths
Decomposition, flies, and body-eating insects
Skeletal remains
Reconstructing faces in clay

7. Injuries
Penetrating/perforating injuries. Open wounds.
- Puncture (needle etc)
- Penetration. Knife wounds. Entrance and exit wounds.
- gunshot
Non-fatal injuries: incisions, lacerations, abrasions
Head, chest abdomen wounds.
Non penetrating injuries. Closed wounds: contusions, haematomas, crushing injuries
Defensive wounds
Punches, kicks – causing bone fractures, organ failure and
Gunshot wounds. Entrance and exit wounds
Crushing injury. Hit by a car.
Struck by fist or blunt weapons. Head injury, chest injury, fractures,
Bites
Torture murder: for punishment, interrogation or just for kicks

8. Other causes of death, and evidence of harm
Electrocution
Asphyxiation: smothering, compressive asphyxia
Drowning
Toxic gases
Burns
Rape
Strangulation
Hanging. Suicide
Ligature marks

9. Bodily fluids
Blood. Bloodstains
Saliva
Semen
Tests
What DNA can tell us
Taking samples from a corpse
Taking samples from a live person

10. Drugs and poisons
Drugs: classification of drugs. What they do, and why people take them.
Signs of drugs in live people.
How drugs (or impurities) kill people. Tests for drugs on dead people.
Poisons. How they kill people. How they're administered to unknowing or unwilling recipients.
How to test for poisons in dead people.

11. Analysing trace evidence
- How is trace evidence analysed? What can it prove. Risks in using trace evidence. Examples of where trace evidence was helpful.
- Hairs and Fibres
Hairs and animal fibres.
Vegetable and inorganic fibres.
Man-made fibres
- Pollen
- Paint
- Firearms Evidence
- Gun Shot Residues testing
- Explosives. Griess tests
Fingerprints (covered in detail in another module)
Glass
Paint chips
Soils
Botanical materials
Volatile hydrocarbons (arson evidence).
- Other traces

12. Analysing documents, and the computer
Currency forgery
Art forgery
Graphology – who wrote what?
False sets of accounts
Computer crime
Finding deleted files

13. Presenting evidence to a jury
The expert witness
Visual aids, videos, still photographs,
Catalogued evidence (exhibits),
Audio recordings, transcripts of conversations
Maps
Handwriting.
Taking the jury to the crime scene