2012 Volume 53 Issue 1 Pages 49-59
The purpose of this study was to clarify whether children could develop microscopic awareness using a magnifying glass in the observation of morning glories. The study subjects were 38 first-grade elementary school children. Analysis was performed on observation records made by children for the first and fourth observations, out of four observations conducted in June 2010. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed on children's sketches and accompanying notes for the first and fourth observations. In the quantitative analysis, the number of notes included in each sketch was counted; in the qualitative analysis, each sketch was evaluated by determining whether the parts of the morning glory were drawn "scientifically" or "artistically." Also, after the fourth observation, a questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain subjective opinions about the use of magnifying glasses for observation. From the quantitative analysis, it was found that the number of children who had written a greater number of notes for the fourth observation than for the first observation was greater in terms of statistical significance than the number of those who had not. In the qualitative analysis, the number of children who drew a "scientific" sketch (i.e. a sketch accurately depicting the characteristics of each part of a morning glory) was larger than that of children who drew an "artistic" sketch. Moreover, as a result of examining the relationship between the qualitative nature (scientific or artistic) of the sketch and the number of included notes, it was found that in the scientific sketches, a note was provided for every illustrated part. In the subjective survey, positive responses were obtained for all the questionnaire items. From the results outlined above, it can be concluded that children can indeed deepen their microscopic awareness via observation activities using magnifying glasses.
