Microworlds
Lesson 8
Preparing Slides
Students will learn to prepare wet-mount and well slides. They will continue working with their microscopes.
3. Lesson Set-up and Management
4-5 INQD Investigations involve systematic collection and recording of relevant observations and data.
- Students will prepare wet-mount slides.
- Students will prepare well slides.
- Students will work on focusing up and down over the surface of the object.
3. Lesson Set-Up and Management
Materials:
- Use a paper plate to pick up the group materials.
- Students will need the 2 flat slides, well slide, and cover slip for the rest of the unit. They can store these in their microscope box, instead of picking them up and returning them every day.
Student Management:
- Read the directions for Activity 1 with students. Have them select the object to observe. Allow them time to draw and describe what they see. Repeat this process for Activities 2 and 3.
- Students will need to bring objects from home to observe in Lesson 10. Assign this as homework. Discuss ahead of time some things that would be good to observe: seeds, spices, coffee, etc.
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Student transferring poppy seeds into a well slide. |
- Prepare ahead of time the “What Am I?” bulletin board. Blackline masters of each of the pictures are provided in the Appendix of the teacher’s guide.
- To make things easier for recording observations in their notebooks, trace circles on tagboard. Then, students use these patterns to draw circles in their notebooks. These circles are where they draw what they see in the microscope's field of view.
- Have students draw three circles down the side of their page in their notebooks . Lbel the first one "Wet-Mount Slide ________ (Hair or Feather)". The second should be labeled "Well-Slide _________ (Poppy Seeds or Sponge)", and the third, "Fish Scales ______ (Wet-Mount or Well) Slide". Beside each of the circles, the students write the properties that they observe.
- At the end of the lesson, have students look at the bulletin board. See if they can figure out what any of the items are. An answer key is listed in the Final Activities portion of the teacher’s guide.
Math Support:
- Discuss adjectives that would be good to describe each of the objects that were observed.
- Create a word bank of descriptive words.
Last updated 02/20/2010