Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2), Upper Elementary (3–5), Middle School (6–8), High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts, Science
Time Required: 3–5–Part Lesson
3–5 class periods
Author: J. Paul Getty Museum Education Staff

Lesson Overview

Students will study an ornately decorated microscope from the 18th century to understand how it works, what it was used for, and how the tool has developed over time into contemporary microscopes. Students will create their own decorated microscope based on this historical model and use it to record their observations of different biological specimens.

Learning Objectives

Students will:
• understand the history and evolution of the microscope as a scientific tool and decorative object.
• understand how compound microscopes use multiple lenses to view cells from living organisms.
• design and create a simple compound microscope.
• use microscopes to compare the general structure of cells.

Materials

Beginning Level Activity:
• Image of the 18th-century compound microscope and case
• Background Information and Questions for Teaching about the microscope (follow link below)
• Copies of Background Information for students
• Compound microscopes for every three students
• Student Handout: Compare and Contrast Microscope Parts (follow link below)
• Information about historic microscopes from the "Museum of Microscopy" on the Web site Molecular Expressions
• Journals or bound paper
• Heavy paper, such as poster board or watercolor paper, cut into 7 x 5-inch rectangles
• Tempera paints, small containers, paintbrushes, and paper towels for decorating
• Student Handout: Microscope Template (follow link below)
• Scissors, double-sided tape, and rulers
• Pencils and colored pencils

Intermediate Level Activity:
• Materials listed above, plus:
• Student Handout: Comparing Lenses (follow link below)
• Plastic mini hand magnifying glasses, with handles (about 2 1/2 inches long, including the handle), which can be purchased from most science education supply stores
• Flat specimen slides
• Water and eyedroppers

Advanced Level Activity:
• Materials listed above, plus:
• Student Handout: Comparing Specimens (follow link below)
• Organic specimens: hair strands, flower petals, and a flea or other insect, or an insect wing
• Bubble specimen slides

Lesson Steps

Beginning Level Activity

1. Pass out one compound microscope for every three students. Display an image of the 18th-century microscope by Jacques Caffieri. Have each group use the Compare and Contrast Microscope Parts student handout to examine parts on the contemporary and historic microscopes. Also ask students to look at the designs on each microscope. What colors do they see? What shapes do they see? What types of lines are used in the design? Chart the answers on the student handouts.

2. As a class, discuss the results of the students' findings. Pass out the background information about Caffieri's microscope and have students read it. Instruct them to add any details they missed to their charts. Identify the various parts of the class microscope as a group and invite students to add any additional similarities or differences between the microscopes' parts to their charts.

3. Look at other examples of microscopes from the past 300 years by exploring the Museum of Microscopy on Molecular Expressions' Web site. Explain to the class what a microscope is used for and share the history of its evolution, from its invention to contemporary use. Tell students where the Getty microscope fits in the timeline of the history of microscopes. Discuss how scientists in the past were very much connected to the arts and were often artists themselves. Sometimes scientists were very wealthy and wanted their instruments to be both decorative and functional.

4. Tell students they are going to design their own microscopes. First, they will design the overall pattern that will decorate the surfaces of their microscopes and transfer this pattern onto poster board. They will then use the decorated poster board to build their microscopes. Hand out the journals and colored pencils. Have students plan a decorative pattern for the surfaces of their microscope in the journals using line, shape, and color. Once sketches are complete, have students transfer the pattern onto the 7 x 5-inch poster board or watercolor paper. Have students use tempera paints to add color to their designs. Set paints up in small containers with small water containers and paper towels so that students can clean their brushes if they need to change colors. Students should use their paintbrushes to apply small amounts of paint to their designs using thin layers of paint so that the paint doesnt smear and will dry faster. Once the decorations are completely painted, set them aside to dry.

5. Give each student a Microscope Template handout, two magnifying glasses, scissors, double-sided tape, a pencil, and a ruler. Use the following steps to demonstrate how to make a compound microscope. Then have students create their own using their decorated poster board.
• First, cut out the template on the handout along the dotted lines. The large rectangle (A) will become the microscope. From that rectangle, cut out the long thin rectangle (B) and the small square (C).
• Align the 7 x 5-inch template with the 7 x 5-inch poster board, with the template on top. Use the template as a stencil to draw rectangle B and square C onto the poster board.
• Cut the rectangle and square you just drew out to remove from your poster board.
• Insert the handle of one of the mini hand magnifiers into the small square hole so that the lens is parallel to the bottom line of the template (perpendicular to the long rectangular hole). The handle should be on the decorated side of the paper and the lens on the other side. If the handle does not fit, enlarge the square with scissors. Be careful not to cut too much. The magnifier handle should fit snugly in the square hole.
• Pull the magnifying lens's handle through the square hole until the lens touches the poster board and wrap the poster board tightly around the edge of the lens, creating a tube out of the poster board. This tube is the microscope shaft. Make sure the decorated side of the poster board is on the outside of the tube.
• Unroll the tube and insert the handle of the second magnifying lens into the long rectangular hole, with the handle on the same side as the other lens. Pull the handle through until the lens touches the poster board. This second magnifying lens should be parallel to and above the first one. Wrap the poster board around both lenses so that both lenses are now inside the microscope shaft.
• Secure the poster board around both lenses with double-sided tape, affixing tape along the shaft to hold the tube together. The handle of the second magnifying lens can now be raised and lowered above the stationary lens.

6. Once the students complete their decorated microscopes, have them look at small objects around the classroom using their microscopes and recording observations in their journals. To use the microscope, place the base or bottom of the microscope over an object. Hold the handle of the bottom magnifier to stabilize the microscope. Hold the top handle and slide it up and down to focus. Students will share their findings with the rest of the class.

Intermediate Level Activity

7. Have each student collect a hair sample by taking one hair from his or her head. Prepare the hair for viewing by placing a drop of water on a flat slide, laying the hair strand in the water, and placing a second flat slide on top.

8. Pass out Comparing Lenses student handouts. Students will draw their observations with a pencil in the appropriate circle. First, they draw what they see with their naked eyes.

9. Hand out one magnifying glass per student. Students will use the magnifying glass to observe the strand of hair and draw what they see with a pencil in the appropriate circle.

10. Students then place their slide under the microscopes they made in the Beginning Activity above, moving the top handle up and down to see how the image changes. They can also experiment with different light levels, by moving to different locations in the room, such as next to a window, or shining a flashlight in the small square on their microscope, to see how different light levels affect what they see. Once they find a view they like, students should draw their observations with a pencil in the appropriate circle on the worksheet.

11. Students will share their findings with the rest of the class. Discuss how simple lenses work to focus objects. Explain that the same type of lens is used in our eyes, in a magnifying glass, and in a compound microscope. Discuss the differences they observed using the three different methods.

Advanced Level Activity

12. Gather flower petals and flea or fly-wings samples. Insects can be ordered through various scientific supply companies or through the school district's Math and Science Resource Centers. Prepare the samples for viewing on slides just as the hair strands were prepared, sandwiched between two slides with water.

13. Pass out the Comparing Specimens student handouts and hand out classroom microscopes. Students will use both the decorated microscope they made and the classroom microscope to view all three specimens. They should draw the cells that they see with pencil in the appropriate circle on the worksheet. Students may also use colored pencils to add detail.

14. Students will work in pairs to discuss the structural differences and similarities between the cells in the various specimens.

15. Ask students if they can see the outline of each cell. The outline is slightly darker than the inside of the cell. Explain that this outline is a cell membrane and that all the cells have semi-permeable membranes, which keep the cell intact.

16. Ask students for examples of well-designed tools used today that can also function as objects of decorative art. Ask students to predict which of the items we use today might be collected in museums 100 years from now for their unique designs or historic significance.

Standards Addressed

Refer to the charts for national and California state standards for this curriculum, found in the links at the top right of this page.