Scientific Illustrations

Scientific Illustration Lesson

Why would scientists want to illustrate something rather than just take a picture?

Materials:

Four plants

Paper
Pencils
Colored Pencils

Objectives:

• Understand what scientific illustration is
• Identify parts of a plant
• Practice careful observation

Go over “Scientific Illustration” hand-out with students

• Look at plants and use their pencils to point to parts of the plant that you want them to draw
• Begin drawing--no talking. Stress concentration..seeing and recording details and working slowly and carefully.
• Remind students about the observation activity from last time (no talking, ignoring everything else but the sense you using)
• Students need to color their drawing and add details once they are finished drawing

Label the parts of the plant, draw straight lines (no arrows and use rulers). Labels should be located outside the formatted drawing.

Use the following sheet as a guide for labeling.