From Dr. Elina Prodromidi, Academy Faculty, Science Department

"On May 30th, 2022, I was kindly invited by 1st Grade teachers to run a Biology lab in the state-of-the-art Elementary School lab. This was the second year in a row I was invited, and this came as a continuation or hands-on practice on the Science Unit of Living Things that 1st graders were currently learning.

With the precious assistance of our lab technicians, Ms. Vicky Poulou (Academy) and Ms. Hara Daskalis (Elementary School), 1st Grade students were taught why microscopes are such important tools for scientists as they allow us to observe details of living things that the naked eye or even a magnifying glass cannot really show. Students learned the main parts of a microscope and observed three specimens on microscopic slides, for which they made drawings in their Science notebooks. Students observed a range of living creatures under the microscope from a marine sponge, a wing of a locust, the eggs of a shrimp, the leg of a moth or the wing of a butterfly to lily pollen and bamboo stem or even yeast fungus or bacteria in the buccal cavity.

Students showed excitement, curiosity, inspiration, and creativity, all of which are important characteristics for future scientists. They proudly drew what they observed and even used their imagination to identify what kind of creatures were on the microscopic slide before they were revealed by me. They asked numerous questions; from scientific ones to simpler ones, and all of them contributed to the learning of their peers.

Being an instructor in the IB for the last twelve years, it was highly rewarding to see so many young minds trying to figure out how a microscope really works and how it can magnify and show details of living things. It was inspiring to see the artistic talents of these 1st graders being successfully applied to a scientific concept. I am very proud of all our 1st Grade future scientists!"