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Home Training Tools Ltd. 2005
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Ideas for Using Your Microscope
Your stereo microscope is a versatile
instrument than can be used to view a variety of
specimens. This section contains various
suggestions for what to study.
Clear plastic or glass petri dishes are great
for viewing live or messy objects with a stereo
microscope because they fit well on the stage and
keep everything adequately contained. The
suggestions below are just a few things you can
view with petri dishes. Place the item or items to
be viewed in the bottom of a petri dish and
position it on the stage plate of your microscope.
Use top or bottom lighting.
Observe the habits of live insects.
Collect insects in the bottom of a petri dish
and cover with its lid to keep insects from
escaping. Be careful not to leave the light source
shining on the insects for too long as the heat
could eventually kill them.
Study a shallow dish of pond water, daphnia,
or fairy shrimp.
Watch them closely as these tiny creatures
swim, dive, and eat.
Examine a soil sample to see the different
materials that comprise it.
Soils with a lot of sand or clay are particularly
interesting to look at. You might even want to
collect soil samples from several different spots
and compare and contrast what you see in each
sample.
Dissect a flower to learn about the beauty and
intricacies of all its parts.
Carefully pull the flower petals and inside
parts off of the stem trying not to damage or tear
them. See if you can identify the parts using a
flower identification book. Stick one or two of the
parts on your microscope to get a closer look. If
there was a lot of pollen on the flower, try putting
the pollinated parts, or loose pollen, into a petri
dish and check it out with your microscope.
(Note:
This is not a good experiment to do if you have
bad allergies!)
Compare the types of minerals and crystals in
different rock specimens.
You can break off small pieces of larger
rocks by knocking them together or using a rock
pick. Put any small shards or pieces of the broken
rocks into a petri dish for easy viewing.
Make a simple prepared slide.
To make a slide, tear a 2½-3” long piece of
Scotch tape and set it sticky side up on the
kitchen table or other work area. Fold over about
½” of the tape on each end to form finger holds on
the sides of the slide. Next, sprinkle a few grains
of salt, sugar, ground coffee, or sand in the middle
of the sticky part of the slide. Carefully observe
the differences between different grains.
Hair and thread also work well on homemade
tape slides. Collect samples of hair from family
members or pets and stick one hair from each
sample on a tape slide. Label each slide and view
them one at a time with your microscope. Write
down your observations about each to see how
hairs from humans and animals differ. You can
also look at threads or fibers from furniture, rugs
or clothing from around your house.
Record your observations.
In the field of science, recording observations
while performing an experiment is one of the most
useful tools available. Early scientists often kept
very detailed journals of the experiments they
performed, making entries for each individual
experiment and writing down virtually everything
they saw. These entries often included drawings
and detailed descriptions as well as the
procedures they used, the data they collected,
and conclusions drawn from their
experimentation.
Our Microscope Observation worksheet (on
the next page) will help you keep track of the
things that you study with your microscope and
remember what you have learned. Blanks are
provided for recording general information about
each specimen, such as its type and the date it
was collected. In addition, there is space to write
down your observations and make sketches of
what you see.
