Learning Bioligy: Slide Sets and how to proceed

[pmpfe]

Dear all,

I'm taking a biology course in college, and took the opporunity to get my hands on a cheap but cool microscope (Bresser Bioloux AL), and got kkmoon's slideset (slide list attached)
Now I feel I can watch a lot of different things, but have a hard time identifying what I'm seeing.

- What slides from this list would you suggest to visualize useful aspects for learning biology (diferent organism and cell types, cell structure and organelles)?
- Is there any other slide set (preferably) or microscopy guide you would suggest with this purpose (basically associating actual images I can get from my microscope with the concepts of basic biology).

Thank you!
Paulo

[Plasmid]

My approach will probably be different from others, but I find that histological slides will give you the basics on how cells are structured,which then can be applied to more complex structures and slides. As far as organelles go , live ciliated protist will offer a great deal of visual information (due to their size) without phase contrast.. a simple oblique insert will help in differentiating organelles.

Paramecium is a great ciliate to see organelles

[TonyT]

I doubt that slide set would be of any use for someone just learning biology.
Your best procedure is to get a good Biology text book. If you can't get such a book then you can read the following on line:

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/168

It seem to cover the basics, and it's free

[mrsonchus]

Hi, I'm inclined to agree with Tony, basic Biology courses will have a schedule of what's to be covered and in what order. This would be the framework to which I'd turn to give direction to study. That said at the basic level trying to glean sub-cellular detail from such a set will for various reasons including lack of knowledge of both Biology and microscopy, slide and microscope quality. Personally I think the book-based approach would be by far the best, where explanations and examples are supported by diagrams and drawings (which definitely makes learning easier than with real samples at this level).

I for example had to do an awful lot of study via book-learning and to a far lesser extent internet resources before I started to feel confident in the recognition and understanding of what I was seeing through the microscope. This is in the context of Botany in my case.

Perhaps the hardest aspect for beginning study is the organisation and 'knowing what to study next' needed. It's very easy to become discouraged with the obscurity of the details before an understanding of the field as a whole is gained I think.

Keep it simple, plan your study subjects and try but not in earnest at this stage to relate slide microscopy to your studied subject/s....
Treat the microscope and slides as an attractive extra at the start, hit the text-books first and give close attention to what you read.

Slides are not best approached with a 'does this look like one of those?' method. Understanding of the subject allows the interpretation or reading of a slide to be made for just about any slide you encounter as you progress.

[MicroBob]

Hi Paulo,
using your microscope can be a less boring approach to learn biology! It won't be the most straightforward one to pass your exams but you can get a real idea how nature works.
You could just select any of the slides, read up on the topic and look what you can see in your ready made slide. If you find the topic interesting you could try to make your own slides, fresh or permanent.
In many cases ready made slides of the cheaper variant leave a lot to desire. So while they probably (while not always ) show the right specimen, they may be over stained, too thick, mountant gone bad... You can see this as a recommendation to get started yourself. In many cases it is not difficult to make a fresh slide.

Bob