Mrs. Wilkinson’s third grade class went to Ms. Walsh’s kindergarten class to look for macroinvertebrates in the pond water Ms. Hughes collected. Mrs. Harrison, our computer resource teacher, brought the project to us and helped us. Our own pond water was completely unoccupied by critters. (See report from the other two classes at our school.)

 Kindergarteners wondered, “Will there be anything alive in our pond water?”

Third graders wondered, “Will the Macroinvertebrates in Virginia Beach be the same as those in other places around the world?”

 Our tools: hand held lenses, Brock Magiscopes, and Intel QX3 microscope. Third graders helped kindergarteners use the tools, particularly focusing the Magiscopes.  

 We saw a lot of interesting things in Ms. Hughes’s pond water: tadpole eggs, newly hated tadpoles, large tadpoles, many water fleas, water boatman, and snails.

 We drew pictures of what we saw in the Petri dishes through the Magiscopes and took photos with the Intel microscope. See the pictures below.

 Kim Harrison
Computer Resource Specialist