Digital Microscope Exploratory Activity

MSET 365 Digital Microscope Exploratory Activity

Preliminary instructions: 1. Load the software for the Proscope microscope onto your computer. Plug the microscope for your group into the computer using the USB cable, and then launch the ProScope software program. Experiment with using the microscope in order to learn how to focus, change the power, hold it steady, capture images, name the images, and locate the images on your hard drive.

Hands-on Activity 1. Refer to your handouts and materials related to Bloom’s taxonomy and Essential Questions (Jamie McKenzie). In particular, look at the Question Types in The Great Question Press article by McKenzie (from trivial pursuit to essential question article).

2. Consider ways that students could use the digital microscopes to gather images that will lead to inquiry related to the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, and as a group, devise an essential question that might be explored using the images students will capture. To do this, come up with some guiding questions that will help students to gather the required information they will need in order to answer the essential question. For example, if the essential question requires students to compare and contrast things, what information will they need in order to do the comparisons?

3. With your essential question in mind, capture several images using the digital microscope and/or digital camera, and download them to your computer.

4. Connect your lesson to standards related to the subject area(s) to be explored in this lesson. You will need to do some research in order to pinpoint the organization that created the standards, e.g., for language arts and/or English, you will refer to the International Reading Association 9IRA) and the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE).

5. Create a brief, menu-driven Powerpoint presentation that showcases the Essential Question, Guiding Questions, relevant images, Procedure (if applicable) and knowledge analysis, evaluation, and/or synthesis that resulted from examining the images. Include a page where you reference the educational organization and standards used to support the lesson, and explicitly list some of the elements of constructivist teaching the lesson draws upon.

6. Save your presentation, and provide a copy to your instructor.