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SCIENCE
Second
Second Quarter-Module
Quarter-Module 1B
Using the Compound
1B Microscope
Using the Compound Microscope

Department of Education ● Republic of the Philippines

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 What I Know

Directions: Read the statements/questions and choose the letter of the best answer.
Write the letter of your answer in your Science activity notebook.

1. An animal cell being observed is seen at the topmost part of the field of view under
the Low Power Objective (LPO). If you want to position the specimen at the center,
which direction should you move the slide?
(A) Move to the left side of the user
(B) Move to the right side of the user
(C) Downward or towards me or the user
(D) Forward or away from me or the user
2. Julia was observing an onion cell under the High Power Objective (HPO) and she
noticed that it moved upward and then it moved to the right. What does this tell Julia
about the actual movement of the specimen?
(A) The specimen moved upward and to the left.
(B) The specimen moved upward and to the right.
(C) The specimen moved downward and to the right.
(D) The specimen actually moved downward and to the left.

3. When looking letter “e” under the microscope, what is the position of the letter as
seen under the low power objective?
(A) The position stays the same.
(B) The “e” is positioned diagonally.
(C) The letter “e” appears larger and inverted.
(D) The position cannot be identified due to its enlarged magnification.
4. The following statements describe how to focus a specimen under the compound
microscope, EXCEPT:
(A) Aim the mirror at your light source.
(B) Use the fine adjustment knob to bring the specimen into focus.
(C) Adjust the stage to find the center focus of the specimen.
(D) Slowly move the coarse adjustment knob towards you until the specimen
becomes invisible.

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5. A plant cell is viewed using a 10x eyepiece magnification and 43x HPO. How many
times will it be magnified?
(A) 10 times (C) 143 times
(B) 43 times (D) 430 times
6. Tilting the microscope allows one to do observation while sitting. Which of the
following is not applicable when a microscope is tilted?
(A) Viewing a leaf
(B) Viewing an onion skin
(C) Viewing a protist in water
(D) Viewing a sample tissue from an inner cheek
7. Which of the following describes a microscope’s magnification?
(A) A microscope’s ability to identify the name of the object.
(B) A microscope’s ability to generate an image without changing sizes.
(C) A microscope’s ability to reflect an object’s image dimension to a specific
angle.
(D) A microscope’s ability to enlarge an image of the object’s length in one
direction but not changing the actual size.
8. Which type of objective is used in focusing a specimen if the inscription is 100x or
97x magnification?
(A) Scanner (C) Low Power Objective (LPO)
(B) High Power Objective (HPO). (D) Oil Immersion Objective
9. How will you be able to know that the revolving nosepiece of the HPO is properly
aligned with the eyepiece?
(A) The eyepiece fits perfectly with the objective.
(B) The eyepiece detaches from the revolving nosepiece.
(C) The revolving nosepiece of the objective turns easily.
(D) The objective produces a “click” sound when the revolving nosepiece is
turned.
10. Which objective is best to use when focusing bacteria, protists, and fungi?
(A) Low Power Objective (C) Oil Immersion Objective
(B) High Power Objective (D) Scanner Objective

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11. At what instance will the projected size of a specimen appear bigger when seen
under the eyepiece?
(A) The lenses are so thick that the specimen appears bigger.
(B) The eyepiece when aligned with the objectives makes the specimen
appears bigger.
(C) When light passes through the lenses, it bends making the specimen
appears bigger.
(D) The mirror projects a false image through the eyepiece, thus, making the
specimen appears bigger.
12. What do you call the bright circle of light when viewing a specimen through the
eyepiece?
(A) Blind Spot (C) Field of View
(B) Eyepiece vision (D) Reflection
13. Why is it necessary for a specimen to be thin when being observed under the
microscope?
(A) The image will be clearer.
(B) The image would be bigger.
(C) Light could pass through the specimen.
(D) High magnification objective can be used.
14. Which of the following shows the proper way of removing bubble formation after
you place the cover slip into the specimen with water?
(A) Tap gently the cover slip with the eraser-end of a pencil.
(B) Add another cover slip over the first one to disperse water.
(C) Remove the cover slip and perform the process over again.
(D) Blow gently into the cover slip so that the water disperses over the
specimen.

15. You wanted to view the letter “ e” cut from a newspaper under the microscope.

Which of the following action makes the image of the letter “e” appears clearer?

(A) Use an oil immersion objective.

(B) Choose a bigger letter “e” from a clearer magazine print.

(C) Add an iodine solution to the letter “e” to get rid of any particulates.

(D) Add a drop of tap water over the letter “e” to act as a mounting medium.

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 Lesson Focusing specimen using
1 the compound microscope
A microscope is a portable but very powerful tool in the field of Biology. It allows
us to capture naked images of living things bared to its tiniest cell and provides us with
essential data about the existence of things with life. In fact, this recent pandemic
introduces us to a new strain of virus – the COVID-19. Have you ever seen a corona
virus even in pictures? How do scientists capture these images?

What’s In

Activity 1: Name Me!

Directions: Identify the parts of the compound microscope labeled A-E. Write your
answer in your Science activity notebook.

C
A

E
B

Figure 1. The Compound Microscope

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 What’s New

Activity 2: Think and Sketch!

Directions: Close your eyes and feel your surroundings around you. You need to
take note of your breathing and clear your thoughts for a while. Now,
remember what you know about the corona virus appearance and how
scientists were able to capture it. You need to think of what it looks like
as if you are a scientist looking at the virus under the microscope. Focus
on the specimen and think of its structures or forms and how it appears
in your imagination. Ready? (Perform the activity now)

Open your eyes and remember what you have imagined. In your Science
activity notebook, draw the virus as how you perceived it should look like. (See the
sample below for the format)

MY CORONA VIRUS SKETCH

How’s Activity 2?
Exciting
Just Okay
Difficult

It’s okay! You’ll get the feel of it as you move forward.

Let’s just take it one step at a time…

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 What Is It

Questions To Ponder:
• Do the Eyepiece and Objectives have numeric inscriptions or labels?
• How are these numeric inscriptions affect the magnification of a specimen?
• How important is the mirror in focusing a specimen under the microscope and
why?
• How will you describe the images as seen in the microscope with the actual
images seen with the unaided eyes?
• Which Adjustment Knob are you going to use for LPO? HPO? Oil Immersion
Objective?
• When you move the slide to the left, right, up or down, to which direction does
the image move?

In the previous activities, you were asked to imagine what a corona virus looked
like just like when you were asked to visualize how it looked like using a microscope.
In focusing specimen using the compound microscope, you will be able to generate
magnified images.

Focusing a Specimen using the Compound Microscope

Since the discussion on magnification and how the microscope enlarges a

specimen was done, it is time to learn the steps in focusing specimen using the
Compound Microscope so that when you will be in an actual laboratory class, you will
be able to familiarize yourself on how to manipulate it. The familiarity of its parts and
function is necessary for you, the learner, to utilize the microscope’s efficiency to the
fullest. So the big question for this module is, “How are you going to focus a specimen
using a compound microscope? It’s easy. Just follow the steps presented on the next
page.

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 Steps in focusing a specimen using the compound microscope
Step 1: Determine the specimen you are going to
focus on.
In the class, your teacher would provide you
Letter ‘e’ clipping from a
what specimen to focus on depending on the topic newspaper

being discussed. Say, the topic is all about animal

cell, and then the teacher may opt to require you to
scrape a tiny bit of sample from your cheek using a
clean toothpick or if its plant, she may tell you bring
Onion skin under the
an onion skin. microscope

Cut out letter ‘e’ from a

Step 2: Preparing a Wet Mount newspaper clipping.

Place the cut out letter ‘e’

A SPECIMEN is a sample
part of any material such as
plant, animal or even paper
and mineral for examination
under the microscope3.
Also, when using a plant
or animal specimen, make
sure to slice thinly
sample in order for light to
pass through the specimen.
in a glass slide.
Add a drop of water using
a dropper or cotton ball.
Then position the cover
slip 450 with one side
touching the edge of the
water and slowly lower the
cover slip until it covers
the specimen.
the
Tap the cover slip gently
by an eraser-end of a
pencil until the bubbles
move towards the cover
slip’s edges4

Figure 2. Preparing wet

mount
_________________________
3
Asuncion, Alvie J. et al., Science Learner’s Material. DepEd-BLR (Pasig City, 2017), 112.
4
Ibid, 113.

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Step 3: Viewing a Specimen
A FIELD OF VIEW is the
bright circle of light under the
microscope. Remember not
to use direct sunlight as a
source to view a specimen
because it can permanently
damage the retina of the
eyes5 .
_________________________
5
Asuncion, Alvie J. et al., Science Learner’s Material. DepEd-BLR (Pasig City, 2017), 112.
6
Ibid, 113.
7
Ibid, 113.
Place the glass slide
containing the specimen
on the stage directly
above its center hole and
set the stage clip in place.
Look through the eyepiece
and adjust the mirror to
find the Field of View of
the microscope. When the
field of view is too bright
adjust the diaphragm.
While watching at the side,
carefully lower the body
tube by turning the coarse
adjustment knob until the
end of the LPO almost
touches the cover slip6.
This action avoids
breaking of the cover slip
when starting to find a
focus of the specimen.
Look through the eyepiece
again. Slowly turn the
coarse or fine adjustment
knob upward to raise the
objective until the letter ‘e’
appears. Continue
adjusting until you can see
clearly. This indicates that
the specimen is in focus7.
Figure 3. Viewing the
specimen
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Table 1. Direction of the Movement of the Image

Direction of the Movement of the

Direction of the Adjustment Knob
Image when viewed under the
when turned
Microscope
To the right To the left
To the left To the right
Upward Downward
Downward Upward

When looking at the microscope, the letter “e” appears inverted as seen in

Figure 4. Also, when viewing a wet specimen such as a sample of pond water or the
like, tilting of the microscope is neither advisable nor using LPO or HPO. Rather, look
at the specimen in a normal microscope position and use Oil Immersion Objective to
focus clearly on the specimen.

Figure 4. Image of letter “e”

HEADS UP! In using a microscope in the Science laboratory, always handle the
microscope carefully. Be careful in using any sharp objects (scissors, blades, glass
slides, etc.) and always perform microscopic activities with the guidance of your
subject teacher.

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 What’s More

Activity 3. Focus on Which comes First!

Directions: Read the statements carefully and determine which comes first, next,
and last in sequential order. Write the number as to the order in preparing
a wet mount (Set A) and focusing specimen under the microscope (Set
B) in your Science activity notebook. [1 being the first step, 2 being the
next step, and so and on so forth]

Set A. Preparing wet mount

______ Lower carefully the cover slip over the wet mount.
______ Tap the bubbles using the eraser-end of a pencil.
______ Place the specimen in a glass slide.
______ Add a drop of water to the specimen.

Set B. Focusing a specimen under the microscope

______ Look through the eyepiece and adjust the mirror to look for a light source.
______ Turn the revolving nosepiece to LPO.
______ Rotate the Course Adjustment Knob until the specimen can be clearly seen.
______ Place a slide so that it directly aligns with the center hole of the stage.

Congratulations! You have completed Lesson 1.

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Lesson Magnification Power of a
2 Microscope

What’s In

Activity 1: Tell Me!

Directions: Identify the magnifying parts (A and B) of the compound microscope.
Write your answer in your Science activity notebook.

A
B

Figure 5. The magnifying part of the microscope

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 What’s New

Activity 2. That’s the Power!

Directions: Read the situation found in the box and analyze the question/s that
follow. Write your answers in your Science activity notebook.

Situation: Marissa was looking at an onion specimen through the microscope

using 5x eyepiece magnification and she also used 10x magnification for the
Objective. She was able to see clearly the specimen.

Questions:
1. What is the magnification number of the following parts of the microscope
used by Marissa in her observation of an onion specimen?

A. Eyepiece - ____
B. Objective - ____

2. How did the microscope help Julia in observing the onion specimen?

__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

What Is It

The microscope is used to enlarge images from its actual size to see internal
structures of living things. The ability to enlarge an image of the object’s length in one
direction but not changing the actual size is called magnification8. This means that
the specimen increases its area by the square of its magnification. So how will you
compute for the magnification of an object?

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 The numeric inscription written in the eyepiece and objective tells us how many
times the microscope actually magnifies an object. The object’s magnification can be
computed by multiplying the magnification of the inscription in the Eyepiece to the
magnification inscription of the Objective. Hence,

Let us put it in an illustrative manner as seen in Figure 6:

Figure 6. Numeric inscriptions of the eyepiece and objective

Therefore, if the Eyepiece has 5x magnification and the Objective has 40x
magnification, then 5 x 40 = 200x magnification! In other words, a specimen seen
under the compound microscope using an Eyepiece with 5x magnification and an
Objective with 40x (HPO) means that the specimen is magnified 200x its actual size
when seen under the microscope! Imagine that! Let us take note that x in 5x or 40x
stands for (times). Can you imagine the wonder of a microscope?
_________________________
8 Madriaga, Estrelita J et.al.,Science and Technology II: Biology (Quezon City, 1994), 16.

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 What’s More

Activity 3: Magnify Me!

Directions: Read the situation below and answer the activity that follows. Write your
answers in your Science activity notebook.

The Grade 7 science class of Ms. Julia was observing plant cells using
a compound microscope with 5x Eyepiece magnification and 10x magnification
for the Objectives.
Calculate the magnification of the specimen using the formula:

Well, well, well! You’ve done already Activity 3.

Great Job Learner!

Now, let’s see what you have learned about the lessons!

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 What I Have Learned

Activity: What’s the Word

Directions: Complete the paragraph using the words found in the box below. Write
the word in your Science activity notebook.

MIRROR OBJECTIVES PENCIL MAGNIFICATION

EYEPIECE INVERTED GLASS SLIDE COVER SLIP

10X FIELD OF VIEW 40X UPWARD

A microscope is an essential tool in Biology. It provides us with important data

on specimens being examined. The (1) ______ has various magnification (5x, 10x,
12.5x, 15x) which attaches to the body tube. On the other hand, the revolving
nosepiece is attached to the (2) ______ with 10x, 40x and 100x magnifications.
In preparing a wet mount, place the specimen in a (3) _______, add a drop of
water and cover it with a (4) _________. Tap the cover slip with the eraser-end of a
(5) ________ to reduce the formation of the bubbles.
Look at the eyepiece and adjust the (6) ______ to find the (7) _____ of the
microscope which is the bright circle of light. The (8) _________ of a specimen is
computed by multiplying the magnification of the Eyepiece with the magnification of
the Objectives. If the eyepiece has a magnification of 10x and the Objective has (9)
_________, then the specimen’s magnification is 400x. Also, turning the stage knob
upward will result in moving the specimen as seen in the microscope downward while
turning the stage knob to the left will move the specimen to the right as seen under

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the microscope. Finally, the specimen when seen under the microscope appears
(10) _____________.

What I Can Do

Directions: Read the situation below and answer the question in 2-3 sentences. Write
your answer in your Science activity notebook.

In today’s pandemic situation, how important is the microscope in observing

a specimen especially in the search for vaccines that would stop the COVID-19
virus?
Explain your answer.

RUBRIC FOR ESSAY

Needs
Criteria Excellent (5) Very Good (4) Average (3)
Improvement (4)

Clear and focused on the Started to define

situation/problem/theme.
Ideas Catches the teacher’s
interest with relevant
details.
Not well-defined
Mostly focused and the topic regardless
with too many ideas
had some good of the generality of
that confuse the
details. the ideas. Provided
main details.
basic answer.

Enhances and showcases

The organizational Sentences in
the main theme or ideas
Mostly organized, structure is strong between
are well organized forming
in order and make enough to convince paragraphs make
Organization into a cohesive structure.
sense to the the teacher without sense but not the
Moves the teacher
teacher. too much order of the
through the flow of the
confusion. paragraph.
texts.

The essay has an easy

Sentences are Most of the
flow, rhythm, and Sentences flow with
Sentence coherent but with sentences were
cadence. Sentences are few grammatical
Fluency 50% grammatical grammatically
well-built with no errors.
errors. incorrect.
grammatical errors.

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 Additional Activity

Point Me the Direction, Please!

Direction: Based on the situations presented below, select the directions in which the
image of the specimen moves when viewed under the microscope. Write
the letter of your answer in your Science activity notebook.

Situation 1: Julia is turning the Adjustment knob to the right.

Situation 2: Danielle is turning the Adjustment knob upward.

Figure 7. Actual Viewing Using the Microscope

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