RhondaM. Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Today we are learning how to make different kinds of mounts then obseving hair, carrots, and ditch water. Should my son record simple procedures and observations of this sort in his lab notebook, or should the notebook be reserved for actual experiments? Thanks, RhondaM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate in Arabia Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Hi Rhonda, I think we may be using the same program as we did these experiments last week. He put all these in his lab notebook. It was good practice to write down the procedures as he was doing them, and he did make small notes as he went along -- and drew a picture of the paramecium he saw in the pond water (he was so excited -- and so was I because nothing jump-starts a science year like a successful experiment, kwim?). After he did the "official" things he (and his siblings) played more with different techniques; in retrospect, these were also experiments that he could have written about in his lab book, but he did not. All this to say, weren't those original steps experiments? Sure it was learning the techniques of creating specimen mounts/slides, but there was still data involved and conclusions to be discovered... hth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhondaM. Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 We are doing the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments. We never got past the hair to our ditch water (I don't have easy access to a pond). We never could focus in on the higher setting the book was having us do. My son did end up writing about our procedures and sketched the hair we were looking at. Today we are going to try again. RhondaM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate in Arabia Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 We're doing the same. We also technically don't have any ponds (we live in a desert), but dh and the boys drove around until they found standing water that had developed some kind of green algae-like substance so they brought back a jar of that. I read somewhere you could even try water from a birdbath or plant pot -- any water that has been standing for a while. I think the pond water was the biggest hit because you could actually see things moving, kwim? Which microscope are you using? Ds was pretty okay with getting the higher definition, but with a couple of items he had trouble and I did my best to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhondaM. Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 (edited) We have the National Optical 134-Cled. RhondaM. Edited September 21, 2012 by RhondaM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.