Footprint Analysis and Lipstick Activity

As a class activity, we attempted to use shoe prints as unique identifiers. By making sizable impressions in contained dirt, students in each group could make notes of any traits possessed by an individual shoe as well the various differences between shoe types and styles. For example, I happened to be wearing running shoes, so my shoe print had lots of engraved lines to increase grip and a high arch. A shoe succh as a ballet flat would be harder to identify because of its lack of personality (at least underneath). Also, measuring the size of a print can help determine whose print is whose. Guys tend to have bigger feet than girls so their shoes are usually larger. By combining all of these observations and techniques, our groups were able to successfully use footprint analysis as an indentification method.

Shoe impression made in dirt and
being measured by rulers
(running shoe or hiking boot)

To help reveal characteristics of everyone's lips, we used lipstick combined with notecards in order to observe lip traits that can specify an individual. We first applied a lipstick of our choice before "kissing" a notecard to leave our lip print. We then marked traits of our lip prints such as gaps, scars, veins, or ridges. These notes helped our clasmates to recognize the cards as ours once we switched them later in the activity.

Lip-print made on a notecard and labeled with traits