Making Observations and Drawings

Jaime Schommer, Westonka High School, Mound, MN based on an original activity from Schoolyard Ecology Explorations, p.76.

Summary

In this lesson, students draw and describe an insect specimen that is provided at their lab station. Each pair of lab partners has to draw and describe their insect so that another classmate can identify it. This lesson encourages students to make detailed observations.

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Learning Goals

Make observations, field sketches, and detailed written descriptions, communicate scientific observations.

Context for Use

This activity would work well in biology at the beginning of the year to help students develop their observation skills for future lab/field investigations.

Description and Teaching Materials

Give each pair of students an organism (leaf, insect, etc.) to make drawings and observations on. Have each pair of students decide who is going to make a drawing of the organism and who is going to write a detailed description of the organism. Give the students 10 minutes to complete their drawings/detailed descriptions. Collect all the drawings/detailed descriptions for the students. Have the students leave the organisms at the lab stations or on their tables. Pass out the drawings/detailed descriptions randomly to the students, making sure that students do not receive their own work. Give the students 5-10 minutes to try to locate the organism using the drawing/detailed description made about the organism. Discuss why it is important to include as much detail about the organism as well as things they forgot to include in their description/drawing.

Teaching Notes and Tips

You can give students as much information as you want them to have on this lesson. I let them make the decision of how much detail they want to include. I usually don't give them too many hints so that we can discuss the importance of detailed observations and why it is so important in science.

Assessment

I check to make sure that each student has completed either a drawing or detailed description. This really helps with future labs because I can refer back to this activity and my expectations for their observations section of their lab notebook.

Standards

I.B - scientific inquiry

References and Resources