Date: ______________________________
Scientific drawings are done to record observations as accurately as possible. They are also used to communicate, which means they must be clear, well labeled, and easy to understand. Following are some tips that will help you produce useful scientific drawings.
o Obtain some unlined paper o Find a sharp, hard pencil o Draw a field of view on the LEFT side of the paper (use something round!) o Observe and study your specimen carefully
o Draw ONLY WHAT YOU SEE! o Do not sketch- draw firm, clear lines, including only relevant details that you can see clearly o Do not use shading or colouring- stippling (series of dots) may be used to indicate a darker area. o Use double lines (=) to indicate thick structures
o All drawings must be labeled fully in neat printing o Labels should appear in an even column down the
RIGHT side o Use a ruler to connect the label with the appropriate structure (label lines should never cross) o Title the drawing with capital letters (underline) o After the title indicate the correct magnification in brackets o Include a calculation of the estimated size

In this activity you will observe and compare a typical plant cell, and a typical animal cell.
You will look at the organelles of each and identify the major differences. The plant cell will be from an onion, and the animal cell will be a human skin cell.
1.
Draw two circles using Petri dishes down the left side of the white paper. Label the top one Skin Cell, and the bottom Onion
Cell.
2.
Observe the provided animal slide under the microscope using low power . Try to find an area of the slide where the cells do not overlap. Focus on one cell using the coarse adjustment knob .
3.
Observe the sample using medium power . Focus on one cell using
Observing Plant & Animal cells the fine- adjustment knob .
4.
Observe one cell. If necessary use the high- power objective
(ONLY USE THE FINE ADJUSTMENT KNOB ). Draw and label a diagram of the cell and any visible structures. Include the magnification you viewed it on, and calculate the estimated size.
5.
Repeat steps 2-4 for the onion slide. Do not focus on a cell at the very tip of the slide, but a bit further back.
1.
What structures were you able to see on the animal cell? The plant cell?
2.
What was the most obvious difference between the two types of cells?
3.
Would you expect all plant cells to look the same? Do you think that all plant cells contain chloroplasts?
4.
Would you expect all animal cells to look the same? Explain your answer.