Rules for working with a microscope, point by point, briefly. Which children's microscope is better to choose and how to use it. Microscopes for kids

You are deeply mistaken if you think that a children's microscope is no different from other ordinary toys. A microscope is a “scientific” device that allows your child to touch the magical and mysterious microworld. This is not just another toy that will end up on the mezzanine in a couple of hours. This small “scientific laboratory” is not much inferior in functionality to real biological microscopes. Therefore, it is not surprising that most parents themselves are ready to sit for hours over a microscope, looking in and studying the microworld around us. A children's microscope allows a child to independently study the structure of a wide variety of objects. Of course, at the initial stage, the young researcher will need the help of his parents.

Types of microscopes

Experts believe that it makes no sense for a child to immediately buy a “super-sophisticated” microscope with maximum magnification. They recommend that parents take a closer look at an inexpensive monocular microscope. These optical instruments are usually sold in a set with additional lenses. Together with the eyepiece, such a microscope allows you to achieve magnification of up to 800x.

And yet, let's take a closer look at what types of microscopes the domestic market offers us. Most often, these devices are classified according to the possible magnification of microparticles that can be examined by one or another type of microscope.

In accordance with this classification, microscopes are divided into the following types:

• Optical.
• Electronic
• X-ray.
• Scanning.

For a novice researcher, of course, it is preferable to purchase simpler optical microscopes (they are also commonly called “light” microscopes). These microscopes allow you to solve basic problems in the study of almost any object.

Other types of microscopes are usually classified as “specialized”. That is, you need to work with them in laboratory conditions, if you have the necessary knowledge.

Popular models of microscopes for children

Today, stores offer a fairly wide selection of light (optical) microscopes for children.

It is rightfully considered one of the highest quality Microhoney Eureka40x-1280x . This device is widely used in educational institutions for laboratory work. However, thanks to three batteries and an adapter, this microscope can also be used at home.

Considered the most accessible MP-450 . This is a dual action microscope. The role of lighting is provided by the sun's rays and lighting from a lamp. MP – 450, allowing the study of biological sections and smears.

The Russian consumer market today offers a wide range of not only professional microscopes, but also children's optical instruments at quite affordable prices. They are perfect for research and biology at home.

What can you offer your child to look at under a microscope?

• Plant leaves. For example, you can see stinging hairs on a nettle leaf. With sufficient magnification, the petals of garden and wildflowers look incredible.
• Hair. Each person and animal has them not only different in color, but also in thickness. And you can verify this by looking into a microscope.
• Pollen. A soft brush can be used to transfer pollen from a plant to a glass slide.
• Fruit pulp. It is no less interesting to study the structure of not only the pulp, but also the peel.
• Dirt under the nails can make a real revolution in the mind of a child. Having examined his nails under a microscope, the dirty guy will immediately run to the bathroom.
• Money, paper, thread, fur.
• If there is an aquarium in the house, then scraping plaque from its walls will keep your child glued to the microscope for hours. The plaque must be placed on the glass and carefully covered with a second piece of glass. It is better to study such an unusual substance at medium magnification.

Onion cells under a microscope

How to conduct research - instructions:

1. We begin the experiment by preparing the optical device. Setting up the light.
2. We wipe both glasses of the microscope with a clean napkin.
3. Dilute a weak solution of iodine and drop a drop onto the glass. You can use a pipette.
4. Having removed the outer scales from the onion, carefully pinch off a tiny piece of onion with tweezers.
5. Carefully place it on the glass in a drop of iodine water.
6. Using a needle, straighten the piece and cover the object with the second piece of glass.
7. We begin to study the preparation (onion slice) at a slight magnification of fifty-six times. Upon closer examination, we see closely adjacent cells of an elongated shape.
8. Then we move on to studying the object at a higher magnification of 300 times. The picture is changing before our eyes. Upon examination, a transparent porous shell is visible. In the cell cavity there is a viscous substance that has no color - cytoplasm. By staining it with iodine, you can see the nucleus, and in it the nucleolus. In most cells, cavities are observed, which in biology are called “vacuoles”.

Thanks to the microscope, we were able to see the structure of the cell and find out what it consists of.

In which microscope can you see chloroplasts and leucoplasts?

First, let's define the very concepts of “Chloroplasts” and “Leucoplasts”.

Chloroplasts are green plastids involved in the process of photosynthesis. These are intracellular organelles of plant origin, which contain chlorophyll.

Leucoplasts are absolutely colorless spherical plastids that are part of a plant cell. However, when exposed to direct sunlight, they can transform into chloroplasts.

Chloroplasts and leucoplasts can be viewed with a regular light microscope, which is used in most schools. This microscope allows you to examine not only the shape of the plastids, their location, but also count their number.

How to conduct an experiment?

The main function of chloroplasts is to attract insects and animals for the purpose of pollinating plants and dispersing seeds. According to experts, the most convenient object to consider is a cut of red pepper. For examination, take a thin slice of the skin of a red pepper. A drop of water is dropped onto a glass slide, and the object being studied is placed in it. It is covered with a second glass on top. Chromoplasts are best visible in the thinnest areas of the section.

Leucoplasts can be clearly seen in an ordinary potato tuber. For the experiment, you need to take the thinnest slice of potato and place it in a drop of water on a laboratory glass. Cover the object with a cover glass. Even bleached leucoplasts are clearly visible, but if they are stained with iodine they become bright blue.

Disputes under a microscope - how to conduct an experiment

Children (as well as adults) really enjoy watching the dancing spores of horsetail, an ancient plant that survived the dinosaurs. Each horsetail spore has special devices called elaters. They are designed to spread the plant using air masses. Their fuel is changes in humidity. When examining horsetail spores, a coverslip is not used. To make the spores “dance” you just need to breathe on them, but carefully, otherwise they will simply fly apart.

When water hits the spores, they shrink. In this case, the amazing dance can only be observed when they are completely dry.

Flies, butterflies and other insects under a microscope

At home, finding an insect to study under a microscope is not as difficult as it seems. You just need to go out onto the balcony. There, as a rule, you can find a lot of all kinds of insect corpses. Having selected a suitable object, it must be carefully transferred (using a needle) to the viewing glass, and covered as carefully as possible with a covering glass.

Any child touching the wing of a butterfly noticed that pollen remained on his fingers. Looking through the eyepiece, you can understand that this is not dust at all, but small scales of wings. Using a microscope, a child will be able to study not only the structure of an insect, its wings and limbs, but also understand that each of its scales has a different shape.

Is it possible to see bacteria and germs under a microscope at home?

Bacteria and some microbes can be seen even with a regular microscope without additional equipment. You just need to prepare a hay infusion for this. It is in this infusion that after some time the hay bacillus is formed, which serves as food for the voracious ciliates of the shoes. These microbes look like small reflective sticks. A magnification of x800 is sufficient for viewing. In its appearance, the ciliate resembles a shoe; it is narrowed in front and widened in the back. Hence the unusual name. Microbes are found everywhere in our lives; they can exist even without the presence of air.

If you have a microscope at home with a magnification of 600-800x, then you will be able to see the mass of bacteria in dental plaque diluted in a drop of water. True, they look far from presentable - very small balls, strings, sticks.

Scientists grow entire colonies of individual microorganisms, but for this they use special nutrient media.

In conclusion, I would like to say a few words about safety precautions when working with a microscope.

• Even a children's microscope is a complex optical device, and it should be treated accordingly.
• At first, you should not allow your child to twist and turn the screws unnecessarily. Parents should immediately explain to the child what the parts of the microscope are called and what they are intended for.
• It is better to work with slides together.

A microscope is an ideal gift for a child of any age. After all, this optical device will help expand knowledge about the world around us. The child will feel like a real scientist, to whom a mysterious microworld reveals its secrets. The world under a microscope is a miracle accessible to everyone. And if a child wants to look into the depths of space, then a few simple ones will help with this. Details in another article on our website.

01-01-2017

We will not go into lengthy judgments about the benefits for children of such a scientific toy as a microscope. Since you are reading this article, it means you have decided to buy it, so let’s get straight to the specifics.

Which to choose?

As usual, When choosing any product for a child, you need to take into account his age. With microscopes it’s the same, only the gradation is much smaller. They can be roughly divided into two categories: microscopes for small children (kindergarten) and for schoolchildren, and an approximate selection can be viewed at this link www.fotosklad.ru/catalog/detskie-mikroskopy-ea.. .
There are many differences between these categories, but the main ones here will be price, functionality and ease of use.

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Microscopes for kids

A child who goes to kindergarten will only need a simple microscope, at a price of up to a thousand rubles. The Eastcolight 100-450 model is perfect for this. The name already indicates the minimum and maximum magnification. For a baby who learns so many new things every day, such parameters will be quite enough to learn a little about the microworld. For now, he's unlikely to need a thousandfold magnification. And based on the cost, it won’t be such a shame if a child damages the microscope, as they often do with their toys.

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Microscopes for schoolchildren

When choosing a microscope for a schoolchild, you can already take into account the child’s developed interests. For example, if he is interested not only in biology, but also loves the stars, then there are sets of both a microscope and a telescope, for example, a set with a name that speaks for itself - “Eastcolight Telescope and Microscope”.
The main difference between microscopes for schoolchildren is the high magnification factor (there are models with magnification up to 1200 times), a wider selection of additional items in the set (various types of glasses: cover glasses, slide glasses, etc.; tweezers, scalpels, pipettes, cups, jars, sticks and much more). And of course, such microscopes are more expensive than ordinary children's ones. Basically, the price varies in the range of two to three thousand rubles.

How to use a children's microscope?

In fact, there is no point in describing the answer to this question in particular detail. As a rule, all kits come with detailed step-by-step instructions for any action. So children who can read can figure it out themselves. But just in case, we are also publishing a training video, which, by the way, will also be useful in forming your opinion on the advisability of purchasing a microscope.

So, you have purchased your first microscope in your life. What should we do with it now? How to use such a complex tool? Any work with a microscope begins with its setup.

Let's figure out how to properly set up a microscope. Setting up a microscope begins with setting up the stage, or more precisely, setting the force for moving it. It must be adjusted so that during study the movement is not too easy and not too tight.

Next, the eyepieces are adjusted. Usually one of the eyepieces comes with adjustment (most likely it will be the left eyepiece), and the second without (if you have a binocular microscope in front of you). Set the left eyepiece to 0 (zero).

After this, close your left eye and look into the right eyepiece with your right eye. We achieve a clear image in the right eyepiece by moving the stage. Then we close the right eye, open the left one and adjust the focus by rotating the focus setting.

You can also use the diopter adjustment to compensate for differences in vision by focusing one eyepiece slightly differently than the other.

Now adjust the brightness of the lamp. For example, if you are working with low magnification, the brightness of the light will have to be reduced (reduce the aperture or reduce the lamp intensity, you can also use a neutral density filter with a certain absorption coefficient.

By the way, regarding filters, it is worth noting that, for example, a blue filter allows you to increase the resolution of a microscope, however, it should be used only when the color of the drug being studied is not important to us.

When working with a microscope, you must follow the operations in the following order:

1. You should work with a microscope while sitting;
2. Inspect the microscope, wipe the lenses, eyepiece, mirror from dust with a soft cloth;
3. Place the microscope in front of you, slightly to the left, 2-3 cm from the edge of the table. Do not move it during operation;
4. Open the diaphragm completely, raise the condenser to its highest position;
5. Always start working with a microscope at low magnification;
6. Lower the 8x objective to the working position, i.e., at a distance of 1 cm from the slide;
7. Looking into the eyepiece with one eye and using a mirror with a concave side, direct the light from the window into the lens, and then illuminate the field of view as much as possible and evenly;
8. Place the microspecimen on the stage so that the object being studied is under the lens. Looking from the side, lower the lens using the macroscrew until the distance between the lower lens of the lens and the microspecimen becomes 4-5 mm;
9. Look into the eyepiece with one eye and rotate the coarse aiming screw towards yourself, smoothly raising the lens to a position at which the image of the object can be clearly seen. You cannot look into the eyepiece and lower the lens. The front lens may crush the cover glass and cause scratches;
10. Moving the specimen by hand, find the desired location and place it in the center of the microscope’s field of view;
11. If the image does not appear, then you must repeat all operations in steps 6, 7, 8, 9;
12. To study an object at high magnification, you first need to place the selected area in the center of the microscope's field of view at low magnification. Then change the lens to 40x, turning the revolver so that it takes the working position. Using a micrometer screw, obtain a good image of the object. There are two marks on the micrometer mechanism box, and on the micrometer screw there is a point that must always be between the marks. If it goes beyond their limits, it must be returned to its normal position. If this rule is not followed, the micrometer screw may stop working;
13. After finishing work with high magnification, set low magnification, raise the lens, remove the specimen from the work table, wipe all parts of the microscope with a clean napkin, cover it with a plastic bag and put it in a cabinet.

A child, like an adult, needs a microscope in order to study an object of interest and get answers to the questions: “ Which?», « How?», « Why? and not only. Parents who constantly hear from their child “ why do leaves turn yellow in autumn?», « why do grasshoppers chatter?», « what is a butterfly wing made of?? and many others, can safely purchase a microscope for their child, without fear that the purchase will become unclaimed. After this, the child, with the help of adults, will not only find answers to all the questions that interest him, but will also learn to set goals, make logical conclusions, achieve real results and, most importantly, be ready to learn everything new and have fun learning.

When choosing a children's microscope, decide for what purpose it will be needed. If you are going to examine sections in a beam of penetrating light, take a classic one monocular microscope. From the name it is clear that it has one eyepiece, which means you will need to look with one eye. On the one hand, this is not very convenient, especially for a baby - the eyes get tired quickly, and acquiring the professional skill of looking into a microscope with one eye without squinting the other is not so easy. However, experienced biologists who constantly work with a microscope know how to do this - by relaxing and opening both eyes, you need to focus on the image that you see in the microscope. This technique can significantly reduce fatigue, but it is not easy for a child to master - children often try their best to close their eyes, which makes them very tired. Such microscopes also have the advantage of high magnification. One and a half or three thousand times immersion lens you are unlikely to need it, it is very difficult to work with it - you need a special immersion environment and, most importantly, experience working with such magnification, and the mitochondrial membranes and other details of the cell structure are unlikely to interest the child at first. As a rule, the most popular lens is eightfold. Together with a standard 10x eyepiece, we get a microscope with 80x magnification. The interchangeable forty-fold lens (total four-hundred-fold magnification) will fully satisfy the needs of even the most fastidious researcher (you can examine chromosomes and the detailed cellular structure of plant parts).

If among the objects of future observations there are relatively large representatives of the microcosm (insects, small inflorescences, seeds, grains of sand), then stop at binocular. In terms of magnification, it is, of course, inferior to a monocular device (maximum - a hundred times), but it is less demanding on the light source and is suitable for studying opaque objects. From the point of view of comfort, it is also much more convenient - the child will look with both eyes, the load on them will be the same, and, therefore, the baby will not get too tired from observing, and the desire to study the world around him will not disappear.

When choosing a device, pay attention to additional features. A built-in light source, for example, will be very useful - it will help you see the object better. Design and location are important microscrew– on some microscopes it can be accidentally touched, in which case the image is easily lost. Surely when choosing a device you will come across a digital microscope. It is good in many respects, since it allows you to see the image of the microscope object immediately on the computer monitor, and, therefore, manipulate it using various editors, even creating a small video.

To get started, in addition to the microscope itself, you will also need other tools and, of course, microscopic specimens. It is advisable to create a small laboratory for the child - it can be just a small table, but with everything necessary for studying objects of the microworld. Having equipped such a corner with microscope, cups for storing samples, cases with subject And cover slips, Petri dishes for preparing drugs, kit tweezers And dissecting needles for micromanipulation, as well as closing test tubes With the necessary reagents, you will create an atmosphere that is slightly mysterious and conducive to exciting research and discovery. It is important to provide a good light source - not only a window, but also a sufficiently powerful lamp. A child studying in such a " laboratories", will be able to fully immerse themselves in the microscopic world and learn a lot of new things about it.

When starting work for the first time, help your child get comfortable in his laboratory. Introduce him to the microscope - explain where to place and how to fix the object of study on the stage, how to focus (first macro- and only then microscrew). Immediately call all things by their proper names so that the baby does not have to relearn them later. It is also important to teach your child to keep his research corner in order - this will help him take research more seriously, without turning it into a regular game.

Choosing a good first research object is very important. If you don't have enough experience with this, start with classic onion skins. To do this, separate one juicy leaf from the onion head and, cutting off a small piece from it, use tweezers to pick up a thin film from its inside. Place it in the center of a washed glass slide with a drop of clean water and immediately cover it with a clean coverslip on top. This must be done to ensure that dust and air bubbles do not get on the preparation and spoil the painting. Next, it is advisable to color the preparation. The dye can be dropped onto the junction of the coverslip and slide. This drug is called temporary, it is not stored for a long time. To make a permanent preparation, the onion film must be stained in a Petri dish, then placed on a glass slide and, filled with Canada balsam, covered with a coverslip on top. When the balm hardens, its excess is cut off with a blade. This drug is called permanent. It can be stored indefinitely. After some time, you can try preparing other drugs. A necessary condition for a successful preparation is the transparency of the cut. Ideally, the cut should be one cell thick along the entire plane. Achieving this at home is not easy. A laboratory method for obtaining high-quality sections is using a microtome. However, a good solution is to use blades from a men's razor. The object (stem or leaf) is placed in a peeled twig cut lengthwise elderberries(its wood is soft and porous). Trying to make a perfectly even and at the same time as thin as possible cut of the stem (it turns out to be a kind of shavings), we simultaneously cut our object. This technique is widely used by biologists and allows obtaining very high quality sections. We place the resulting mixture of elderberry shavings and sections of the object under the weakest lens and, using tweezers and a dissecting needle, disassemble it - throw out the elderberry, and transfer the successful sections to clean glass.

So, the finished preparation is placed on the stage. First, the light is adjusted so that the preparation is brightly illuminated. By working with a macroscrew under the weakest lens, we achieve the sharpest image possible. Now you need to move the slide in search of the most successful picture. You can then turn the microscope to a higher magnification and, by manipulating the microscrew, select the best option in focus.

During the following lessons, you can show your child living objects - ciliates, amoebas and daphnia from the water of an aquarium or pond, small soil insects and molds from a spoiled piece of bread; ready-made microspecimens for a microscope also deserve your attention - on them you can see what you can see on your own in household conditions, it is impossible to prepare, for example, muscle tissue, nerve cells or an egg. Each microscopy object is interesting in its own way, and demonstrating them competently, maintaining the child’s interest, is not an easy task, but any parent can do it.

So, you bought a microscope. As a rule, one is too lazy or has no time to read the instructions. You would probably like to have some friend who would explain everything to you in detail and show you how to use a microscope. And perhaps you should not only educate yourself or brush up on school skills, but also teach your child, who may become a biologist or researcher in the future.

How to use a microscope? At first, both you and your child need to understand that an optical device is one of the simplest, learning to use it will not be difficult.

Remember one logical chain: light passing through an object or reflected from an object passes through the lens and eyepiece of a microscope, and presents a magnified image before your eyes! This is the principle of working with a microscope.

So, you and I will need:

object of study

directional beam of light

selected lens

selected eyepiece

Focus knob for adjusting image clarity

Light in a microscope is presented in the form of upper and lower illumination. The lights operate on AC power or batteries and are turned on by pressing a button on the body. There are also microscopes that do not have overhead illumination.

First of all, determine what you are going to look at through the microscope. If this is an object that transmits light, then it must be secured between the slide and cover glass and use lower illumination.

If this is an object that does not transmit light, then simply place it on the stage under the lens and use the overhead illumination.

Objects that should be examined through a microscope in transmitted light (lower illumination): parts of insects (wings, legs, heads, etc.), sections of leaves and plants, sections of grains and legumes, dust, scale, water and all liquid micropreparations , protozoan microorganisms, fungal microorganisms, etc.

Objects that are recommended to be viewed through a microscope in reflected light (top illumination): coins, stones, paper, fabric, whole insects, wool and hair, plastics and other dense synthetic materials, soil and rock samples, whole leaves and plants, wooden surfaces, any objects and fabrics that do not transmit light.

Next, what we need to do is place the object on the microscope stage. We position it so that the lens axis points exactly to the area that we want to see enlarged. In order for a clear image of the object to appear in the eyepiece, it is necessary to set the minimum objective lens (for example, 4x) on the revolving device so that it is perpendicular to the axis of the stage.

Next, you need to insert the eyepiece into the eyepiece tube, and slowly raise the stage using the focusing mechanism from the lowest point to the top. In this case, it is necessary to look into the eyepiece until a blurry and then a clear enlarged image of the object appears.

Now you can enlarge the object even more! To do this, we use a lens of higher magnification and refocus. It is very important that when changing lenses and eyepieces, the object is securely fixed on the stage and does not move. Otherwise, the search will need to be done again.

Magnification is calculated very easily - you need to multiply the magnification of the eyepiece by the magnification of the lens currently used. For example, we are using a 10x objective and a 16x eyepiece, which means our effective magnification will be 160x!

We hope that our article told you how to use a microscope. On our website you will also find a lot of useful information on working with microscopes and will easily increase your level of knowledge.