Finding Phytoplankton and Zooplankton
Microscope Lab
The aquatic ecosystems chapter is a great opportunity to review microscope skills and start learning how to look for microscopic life in a drop of water. In this assignment, students will start with a simple letter "e" slide before moving up to pre-made slides of cork, insects, blood, and bacteria before learning how to make their own wet slides. By the end of the lab, they should be comfortable enough with the process to start hunting for microscopic organisms in a sample of pond water that you provide.
This is a list of the slides I use. Feel free to add or remove any based on what you have available.
- Letter "e"
- Cork
- Blood smear
- Mixed blood, bacteria, and yeast
- Spirogyra
- Volvox
- Daphnia
- Amoeba
- Paramecium
I have a small aquarium in my room that I stock with pond water and leftover elodea from the biology classes that sample from. You can do the same or just bring in some water from a nearby pond.
Essential concepts: Microscopes, objectives, microscope slides, magnification, zooplankton, phytoplankton.
