Exploring Algae Under The Kids Microscope
Algae are perhaps one of the easiest microscope experiment samples that students and children can obtain. They are the slimy green growths that can be found on pond water surfaces or around stones and dead leaves in a damp environment. Some of them look like large green masses on the surface and the colors can vary from yellow-green or blue-green.
Let us first look at the algae under the kids stereo microscope with the use of a dissecting needle. The algae looks like it is made of thread-like formations. Be sure to keep the sample moist all the time so that it will not shrivel up. Next, let’s take one of these and examine it more closely under a high power compound kids microscope. The difference between these two microscopes is the low power stereo is for viewing the overall specimen, even if it is rather large. The high power compound is only for viewing the smallest microscopic samples, typically on a microscope slide and under a cover slip.
If we examine a thread of algae under a kids high power compound microscope, we will see that it’s actually made of a string of green bead-like structure. These are the microscopic cells. The next thing we do is to focus our compound microscope on one of these cells.
Each cell that makes up the algae is mostly made up of a viscous fluid called the cytoplasm. The cytoplasm is responsible for transporting materials, building of cell walls, producing chemical reactions and most of the cell’s work. In the cytoplasm is the nucleus and it controls the whole cell. If the nucleus cannot be distinguishable in the sample, just add a few drops of acetic acid and wait for at least twenty minutes. The nucleus will turn into a deep red color.
Under a compound kids microscope, we will see that there are green rounded forms in the cytoplasm. These are chloroplasts and the green substance is the chlorophyll. The chloroplasts take in raw food and “cook” it with the use of sunlight.
One child’s educational microscope experiment that we can make with algae is to observe what the cells look like at the various stages of its growth. Young cells are almost occupied by the cytoplasm. As the cell grows, there are gaps filled with sap in the cytoplasm and they form into a single cavity. It is enclosed by cell wall made up of a water-permeable material. To distinguish the cell wall, drop a little salt water on the slide. The cell contents will then shrink and bring out the wall.
There are many different kinds of algae to observe. One of the most common is the Spirogya as it grows in soft green masses and can be found under the surface of the water or under the side of underwater plants’ leaves. If we examine a spirogyra under a student’s high power microscope, we observe that its cells have spiralled bright green chloroplasts.
Another interesting algae to observe under a kids compound microscope is the Oscillatora. It can be found in still water where it usually forms in thick purplish or blackish floating mats. Under a scientific compound microscope, the cells of the oscillatora look like short cylinders. It is also interesting to observe the oscillatora because it is capable of movement. It has filaments that can sway or oscillate and twist or rotate. A mass of them will spread out into a uniform film if you place them on a wet surface.
We can also use our compound microscope to examine a very common species of algae which is the Vaucheria. It can be found on the bottom of shallow waters and looks like a mat. Observing the vaucheria’s reproduction process can be a very educational activity using the science microscope that teachers can recommend their students. Under the high power magnification of a compound microscope, kids and children can observe the vaucheria’s two-way reproduction.
One method of the vaucheria to reproduce starts when a filament end enlarges and shapes into a club. A spore is formed from the contents of this club-shaped part and escapes to the filament’s free end. This spore can be seen by the naked eye and under a low power stereo microscope it can be seen swimming about through its cilia. The cilia are little threads that vibrate and enable the spore to move. The spore then settles down and from then it will start to germinate. It will send out tubes that will eventually develop into the vaucheria filaments.
The second method of the vaucheria’s reproduction that can be observed under a compound educational kids microscope is when an ovoid cells branches out of the side of the filament. This cell is separated from the rest of the cell by a cross wall. A coiled tube is then formed close to this cell. Eventually, the free ends of these structures open and the tube’s contents pass into the ovoid cell. A spore is then formed. This spore has no cilia and it stays for some time in the ovoid cell until it is released and eventually germinates into a full grown vaucheria.
There are more kinds of algae that can be observed by the student using their compound microscope. It will be a very educational as well as enjoyable task to experiment with and identify the kinds of algae while looking at them under a kids microscope.
