Digital Microscopy : Improving Identification & Quantification in a Freshman Biology Classroom

1. Digital Microscopy:Improving Identification & Quantification in a Freshman Biology Classroom Elizabeth Smith West Aurora High School RET fellow, 2010 & 2011 University of Illinois-Chicago NSF Grant CBET-EEC-0743068

2. Background: My RET at UIC • Dr. Michael Cho’s lab 2010 2011

3. Background: My School, My Students

4. Background: My School, My Students • ALL students take some Biology • Biology: • 50/50 Freshman & Sophomores • Most students: • Read below grade level • ~30% of students have parents that attend Open House or Conferences or attempt to contact the teacher

5. Technology Current Technology Current Challenges • 9 Biology classrooms • Each has computer + LCD projector • 6 Compound Light Microscope sets • 13 scopes each • 2 scope cams • Technology: • Cameras are old, only show B/W images • TVs are small, whole class can’t see • Students: • Less than half have used a microscope • Students have little concept of what they are seeing!

6. Technology A Solution MOTOCAM 1000 • USB-based microscope camera 1.3 Mega Pixel camera • Calibration slide for accurate measurements Software: Motic Images 2.0 • Capture stills & video • Measurements (including area) • JPG, etc. to email/print • Image processing • & more!

7. Objectives • Use the MOTOCAM 1000 to: • Show the whole class proper microscope technique • Capture videos for later use & posting on school website • Includes narration software • Capture images for statistical analysis • Quantifying Biology! Compatible with Excel

8. Illinois Standards

9. Teaching: Microscopy Techniques Intro to Microscopes Digital Microscope Application • Students learn how to use a microscope • Wet mount slides • Letter “e” • Crossed threads • Printed paper • Misc. prepared Slides (bugs, etc) Analyze • Which way is the image facing? • What happens when you move the slide left? • Why can’t you focus on both threads at once? • Show students what “in focus” looks like! • Avoid the “Bubble Eureka!” moment

10. Teaching: Plant v. Animal Cells Comparing Cell Structures Digital Microscope Application • Have students create & examine 3 cell samples: • Onion skin cell • Elodea cell • Human Cheek cell Analyze • Compare & Contrast the 2 plant cells • Compare & Contrast the plant v. animal cell • The first time that many students see cells! • Most have no idea what the are seeing: which things are cells?! • Capture stills • Great for referring back or for absent students • Capture video of moving chloroplasts

11. Teaching: Osmosis Watching Water Move Digital Microscope Application • Using Elodea samples, create a slide, observe • Flood the slide with saline solution, observe Analyze • What happens to the cell? • How could you reverse the process? • Record video samples of the lab to • share with absent students & • when teaching about hyper-/hypo-tonic solutions

12. Teaching: Mitosis & the Cell Cycle Seeing Mitosis Digital Microscope Application • Use Onion Root tip or other premade mitosis slides • Students find & sketch examples of interphase, mitosis (PMAT), and cytokinesis • Identify cell membrane, cell wall, chromosomes, cleavage furrow, cell plate Analyze • Compare & contrast mitosis in plant & animal cells • Before lab, use digital projector to identify the parts of mitosis in real cells • In lab, have students take turns capturing & printing images of different parts of the root tip. • Count the # in each phase • Create a graph to show number of cells in each phase • Analyze: Which phases are the longest? Shortest?

13. Teaching: Pond Water & Protists Protists in the Water! Digital Microscope Application • Depression slide + pond water, • Sketch, identify, and label the structures. • Cell membrane, cytoplasm, chloroplasts, cilia, flagella, nucleus Analyze • Beside each, describe: • Unicellular or multicellular? • Autotroph or heterotroph? • How does this protist move? • How does this protist feed? • Have the class work as a group to capture an image of each new organism • Volvox & ameobae are rare most years; capture a video to share with other classes • Use pictures captured to label in later assessments

14. Teaching: Plant Adaptations Anatomy of a Leaf Digital Microscope Application • Have students exam cross sections of a dicot leaf; draw & label: • Cuticle, epidermis, pallisidemesophyll, spongy mesophyll, vascular bundle (xylem + phloem) stomata, guard cells Analyze • Describe how each helps with photosynthesis or protection • Have each group capture a picture of the epidermis from a tropical & a desert biome • Count the number of stoma in the same size area • What differences do you see? Why?

15. Acknowledgements • NSF Grant CBET-EEC-0743068 • Prof. A. Linninger, RET Program Director • Dr. Michael Cho, Research Mentor • Brandon Lutz and Hannah Wirtshafter, fellow researchers • University of Illinois- Chicago

16. References & Resources • Illinois Interactive Report Card • http://iirc.niu.edu/ • Swift Optical Resources • http://www.swiftoptical.com/EducationalResources.aspx • Pictures • http://www.subbody.net/01subbody/Unfold/240/071013_volvox.jpg • http://www.kuhnphoto.com/gallery/biology/microscopic/stomata.jpg • http://faculty.irsc.edu/FACULTY/TFischer/bio%201%20files/test-yourself%20mitosis.jpg • https://kleinsclasses.wikispaces.com/file/view/handbook-microscope_noshadow-T.jpg/56048204/handbook-microscope_noshadow-T.jpg • http://www.workshopplus.com/productcart/pc/catalog/moticam1000setup_809_detail.jpg • http://www.tedpella.com/cameras_html/camera2.htm • http://www.ndt-educational.org/images/Artefatti26.jpg • http://wikidoc.org/images/a/a6/Chloroplasten.jpg