OpenSciEd Unit 6.6 · Lesson 04 · 4.A
Look for: With the microscope, I could see different pa…
From Teacher Edition
Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
Building towards
4.A.2 Collect data at different scales to answer scientific questions about the components found in blood.
What to look / listen for
When skimming what students have written in their notebooks, look for ideas such as:
- With the microscope, I could see different parts of the blood (circles, dots, blobs, different colors).
- With the microscope, I can tell that blood is a mixture because I can see the different components that make it up.
- Without the microscope, the slide just looks like pink glass.
- Without the microscope, blood looks like it’s all the same throughout.
What to do
Take note of any students who are struggling to describe these differences in what they could see with the microscope versus without. Support those students in the Building Understandings Discussion in the next step. For instance, you might choose to have students talk with a partner before sharing their ideas, and make intentional decisions about pairing these students with others who have clearer understandings about what they observed. You might also ask these students to help scribe or draw what the class is describing during the discussion that follows. Those students should realize that blood (in humans and other animals) is composed of a mixture of things we cannot see without a microscope.