How not to Teach:
do not assume that all students can estimate!
How to … teach students estimation skills!
In this lab exercise, students will be introduced to “Level One” problems first, by measuring the field of view at different magnifications (A level one problem is building skills and familiarity with new concepts). Second, students will be introduced to estimation and will use their previous measurements to do two estimations of the letter “e” slides. Third, later in the lab exercise students will estimate the size of real objects or organisms they observe and draw, using these skills. Now we recognize that this is a multiple step problem for our students and we should not begin at step three, by asking them to estimate the size of organisms viewed under the microscope (which is a “Level Two” problem).
lAB EXERCISE (IN PDF)