Finding Protists

Unit:  Protists

Lab  1: Finding Protists in a drop of the pond and Identifying them.

Goal: 

• Identify the protists in a water sample.

Skills: 

• drawing microorganisms
•  describing microorganisms
•  preparing a microscope slide
•  observing microorganism
•  collecting specimens
• identifying protists

Materials:

• Science Journal
• Microscope
• Samples of pond water
• Microscopes slides

Procedure:

1. Visit the nearest pond, river or beach and collect water in a glass container (we recommend reusing glass containers of food that is previously cleaned).
2. Use a dropper pour a drop to the slide and cover with the coverslip.
3. Place the microscope slide on the object holder and focus the targets until you see the microorganisms.
4. Draw what you saw in your science notebook and describe the microorganism.