In some exercises you also gain experience in dissections, by which you can see structural relations and make comparisons with your own eyes. Before lab, read the pages in both Buchsbaum and Bios 172 textbook and any handouts you have received. Read the objectives for the week and coordinate the microscope slides and specimens you will look at and dissections you will make with the information in the texts. When you arrive at lab, take notes as your lab instructor orients you to the location of the various materials in lab and instructs you how to proceed. If you finish early go back over each objective to be sure you have not missed anything.
Drawings represent a shorthand method of recording observations.
They must be accurate , original and reflect what you see and know . Drawing requires you to use the same observation skills you need for your nature journals. Look closely and pay attention to detail. Drawing exactly what you see will help you fix a mental picture of the structures and proper labeling of the structures will also provide you with a permanent record of all that you have seen. You need not be an artist to make scientific drawings.