My wife and I just started watching NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service on CBS. The show follows the exploits of a team of investigators from NCIS (a real agency). The characters include 3 field agents, a field agent/computer expert, a medical examiner and a forensic scientist. The story lines include quite a bit of accurate science both in forensics, anatomy and physiology, and computer science. It airs on Tuesdays at 8 on CBS (and all the past seasons are available on DVD). Many of the episodes are also available on their website.
The forensic scientist character, Abby, is a funny, sweet, super smart, goth woman who uses some great science and technology to help solve the crimes.
Forensic science and shows like this are great ways to get students interested and excited in science.
There is some violence, suggestive dialogue and views of the autopsies (fake, of course) so parental and teacher review is needed. Showing clips in school and then getting students interested in the show might be a good way to go about it.
Other Forensic Science Resources:
Science-Class (has a whole section on Forensics)
The TV Show Bones (about an FBI agent and forensic scientist team)
CSI: The Experience Web Adventures
PhET - online science simulations - can be used to do forensics too.
Disclaimer: I was NOT paid for this article.
