Asking Questions in Biology

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 26.06.07

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Demographics
  2. Introduction
  3. Rationale
  4. Background Content
  5. Teaching Strategies
  6. Activities
  7. Annotated Bibliography
  8. Appendix On Implementing District Standards
  9. Notes

Dermatoglyphics (Fingerprints), the Data Cycle, and Asking Questions

Valerie Schwarz

Published September 2026

Tools for this Unit:

Notes

1 “Skin,” Cleveland Clinic, accessed July 13, 2026, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/10978-skin

2 Brian E. Dalrymple, “Fingerprints,” in The Forensic Laboratory Handbook: Procedures and Practice, ed. A. Mozayani and C. Noziglia (Humana Press Inc. 2005), 118.

3 “Carl Linnaeus: Father of Taxonomy,” University of Vermont, https://www.uvm.edu/extension/news/carl-linnaeus-father-taxonomy accessed July 14, 2026.

[4] Adrian Currie, “Convergence as Evidence,” British Society for the Philosophy of Science, 64

(2013): 766.

[5] Janke, Axel et al. “The Marsupial Mitochondrial Genome and the Evolution of Placental Mammals.” Genetics, vol. 137 (1994): 243.

[6] Currie, “Convergence as Evidence,” 765.

[7] Currie, “Convergence as Evidence,” 766.

[8] Maciej Henneberg, Kosetta M Lambert, and C.M. Leigh, “Fingerprinting a Chimpanzee and a Koala: Animal Dermatoglyphics Can Resemble Human Ones,” In Proceedings of the Conference of the Australian and New Zealand International Symposium on the Forensic Sciences, 1996. 1998, 1.

[9] Cummins, Harold. "The topographic history of the volar pads (Walking pada; Tastballen) in the human embryo." Contrib Embryol 20 (1929): 103-126.

[10] James D. Glover, et al., “The Developmental Basis of Fingerprint Pattern Formation and Variation,” Cell 186, no. 5 (2023): 942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.01.015.

[11] Henneberg et al, “Fingerprinting a Chimpanzee and a Koala: Animal Dermatoglyphics Can Resemble Human Ones,” 1.

[12] Henneberg et al, “Fingerprinting a Chimpanzee and a Koala: Animal Dermatoglyphics Can Resemble Human Ones,” 1.

[13] Thomas Malcolm, “The Importance of Touch and Friction to the Evolution of Fingerprints in Primates,” Young Anthropology v. 3 (2021): 22. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ya/article/view/37816

[14] Alexis Prevost, et al, “Effects of Fingerprints Orientation on Skin Vibrations during Tactile Exploration of Textured Surfaces,” Communicative & Integrative Biology vol 2, issue 5, (2009): 422-424, https://doi.org/10.4161/cib.2.5.9052.

[15] Peter Warman and Roland Ennos, “Fingerprints Are Unlikely to Increase the Friction of Primate Fingerpads.” Journal of Experimental Biology 212, no. 13 (July 1, 2009): 2016–22. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.028977.

[16] Glover, et al., “The Developmental Basis of Fingerprint Pattern Formation and Variation,” 940.

[17] Dalrymple, “Fingerprints,” 117-118.

[18] Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Science of Fingerprints Classification and Uses (Empire Books, 2026), 1.

[19] Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Science of Fingerprints Classification and Uses, 257-259.

[20] “Why Data Science is the Career of the Future: A Comprehensive Guide.” Boston University, accessed July 14, 2026,  https://www.bu.edu/cds-faculty/stay-connected/data-science-resources/data-science-is-the-career-of-the-future/

[21] Warren Berger and Elsie Foster, Beautiful Questions in the Classroom Transforming Classrooms into Cultures of Curiosity and Inquiry (Corwin, 2020), 11.

[22] Paul L. Harris, Trusting What You're Told : How Children Learn from Others. (Harvard University Press, 2012). Accessed July 20, 2026. ProQuest Ebook Central, 33.

[23] Berger and Foster, Warren. Beautiful Questions in the Classroom Transforming Classrooms into Cultures of Curiosity and Inquiry, 27.

[24] “Core Concept: How synaptic pruning shapes neural wiring during development and, possibly, in disease,” National Library of Medicine, accessed July 13, 2026.  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7368197/

[25] Berger and Foster, Beautiful Questions in the Classroom Transforming Classrooms into Cultures of Curiosity and Inquiry, 35

[26] Berger and Foster, Beautiful Questions in the Classroom Transforming Classrooms into Cultures of Curiosity and Inquiry, 37.

[27]  Berger and Foster, Beautiful Questions in the Classroom Transforming Classrooms into Cultures of Curiosity and Inquiry, 40.

[28] Berger and Foster, Beautiful Questions in the Classroom Transforming Classrooms into Cultures of Curiosity and Inquiry, 1.

[29] Rothstein, Dan and Santana, Luz. Make Just One Change Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions (Harvard Education Press, 2018), 4.

Comments:

Add a Comment

Characters Left: 500