The activity: Exploring natural materials with a digital microscope
The activity
The pupils have collected leaves, twigs and flowers to look at under the digital microscope. They work in small groups; for this activity there are three boys who take it in turns to operate the computer and the microscope. The teacher sits back and offers comments and suggestions when needed.
The group look at the magnified image of a leaf which appears on the computer screen. By pressing a button on the microscope they can take a snapshot of each image and save these to the computer. The snapshots are called 'Collections' and can be viewed later on, either to show the rest of the children what they have been doing or within their own group.
As this is investigative play, pupils are encouraged to find things out for themselves. In this group one boy puts a plastic caterpillar under the microscope and another detaches the microscope and uses it to look at another boy's hair.
Another activity involves pupils taking turns at using the interactive whiteboard to draw freehand. These drawings range from large expressive sweeps that require pupils to stretch up to reach the top of the board, to more contained drawings on a small section of the board.
The children also have the opportunity to use the Teddy Bears' Picnic CD-ROM which is projected onto the whiteboard from the laptop. To start the CD-ROM, pupils have to type in their name using the keyboard. One activity they work through is 'Dressing Teddy' which involves using fingers to drag specific items of clothing from the chest of drawers onto the teddy. Another activity involves following instructions to make Teddy move around squares on a board and help him arrive at his picnic.
| Using a digital microscope and interactive whiteboard | |
|---|---|
| Description | Pupils at St Andrew's Nursery try out a digital microscope and a new interactive whiteboard |
| Duration | 2 minutes 21 seconds |
| Windows version |  Windows Media video: Using a digital microscope and interactive whiteboard |
| Mac version |  QuickTime movie: Using a digital microscope and interactive whiteboard |
| Transcript | Read a transcript of the St Andrew's Nursery class video. |