Notes on activities for teachers/

technicians for Chapter 2

Activity 2.1
Using a microscope
Apparatus and materials required

access to a light microscope

Safety and welfare

There are no special safety or welfare issues involved here.

Notes
Worksheet 2.2 describes the use of a microscope with a built-in mirror. If your
microscopes differ from the style shown, you may need to alter the instructions for the
students to follow.
Most modern microscopes have a stop that prevents the objective lenses from being
moved down so far that they hit the slide. If yours do not, it is essential that students are
aware of this danger and take special care with step 5.

Cambridge University Press 2014 IGCSE Biology

Notes on activities for teachers/technicians: Chapter 2

Activity 2.2
Looking at animal cells
Apparatus and materials required

supply of material from which to obtain cell sample for example, fresh liver pounded
with a pestle and mortar and suspended in a little salty water, or a trachea from a
sheep or other animal (see Notes below)
glass rod, pipette or section lifter (to pick up a cell sample and place it on the slide)
methylene blue solution and a dropper (see below)
glass microscope slide and coverslip
filter paper or blotting paper
microscope

Safety and welfare

Although liver or a trachea are no more likely to transmit pathogens than any piece
of raw meat a student might work with in a kitchen, they should still be treated with
caution. Wash hands thoroughly after handling the liver or trachea, and wipe down all
surfaces and implements with disinfectant. Under no circumstances allow students to
take samples of their own cells to observe.

Notes
It is no longer acceptable for students to use samples taken from their own cheek linings
to look at cells, as this poses a risk (albeit slight) of the transmission of viruses from one
student to another. Many teachers now use the lining of the trachea of an animal obtained
from a butcher. Use a section lifter to gently remove a few cells from the tracheal lining,
and then place them into a drop of stain on a microscope slide. Alternatively, you can
break up a small piece of liver in a pestle and mortar; you need to do this just enough to
separate cells, but not to damage the cells themselves. Do not add pure water to the liver
cells, as this will make them burst.

Answers to questions
A1 the nucleus
A2 It is permeable, as the blue colour moved into the cells.

Cambridge University Press 2014 IGCSE Biology

Notes on activities for teachers/technicians: Chapter 2

Activity 2.3
Looking at plant cells
Apparatus and materials required

small piece of onion bulb (or a few moss leaves see below)
scalpel or sharp knife
microscope slide and coverslip
pair of forceps or mounted needle
microscope

Safety and welfare

There are no particular hazards associated with this activity. However, students should
take care when using a scalpel or a sharp knife.

Notes
Onion epidermis is an easily accessible tissue, and is made up of a single layer of fairly
large cells, making it easy for students to interpret what they see under the microscope.
The downside is that the cells do not contain chloroplasts. If you would like students to
see these, they could use very thin moss or liverwort leaves instead but these do have
more than one layer of cells. Filamentous algae, obtained from a freshwater pond or a fish
tank, can also be tried.

Answers to questions
A1 cell wall, large vacuole
A2 They are underground. Chloroplasts contain chlorophyll, which absorbs energy from
light for photosynthesis. As these cells do not get any light, there is no point in having
chloroplasts.
A3 The answer will depend on the students results.

Cambridge University Press 2014 IGCSE Biology

Notes on activities for teachers/technicians: Chapter 2