WHY USE A SMARTMICROSCOPE? #2 – COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

A crucial part of all microscope activities is students discussing what they saw and interpreting the specimen. Collaborative learning is part of all Microscope software curriculum program and comprises a huge part of students’ success in learning.

Collaborative learning is more effective than a pure pure teacher presentation model. Young students learn and remember a lot better through discussions with their peers. This is part of the NGSS – Next Generation Science Standard. With this in mind, all SmartMicroScope (by SmartSchool Systems) products include teaching materials that are aligned to this standard.

In a traditional microscope setting, students had to view the specimen, get back to their seat and remember what they saw. This can be especially hard with unclear or misremembered specimens. After each student took a turn at the microscope, of course, students who approached it the last have the clearest memory of the visual, while those that came first barely remember it.  This is not even considering the ones that never saw it in the first place.

While discussing what they saw on the microscope, students have to deduce from visuals by memory. This can sometimes be unclear, false or simply misremembered. There’s also no chance to notice something new on the specimen. During the discussion, if a student mentions something the other student didn’t notice yet, they don’t have the opportunity to easily view the specimen again.

A classroom digital microscope fixes this problem. When the students all see the specimen in real-time, it has a huge impact on productive discussion and collaborative learning. Students can use the visual input to discuss what they’re seeing and draw conclusions.

Thanks to the Biology microscope investigations, they can also take part in different activities and tasks related to the specimen they’re seeing.

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StevenHWicker Joined: May 31st, 2019