An Introduction to Observational Drawing (Part 1 of 2)

This is the first of two lessons on observational drawing as a means of scientific documentation. Students are provided the opportunity to draw a sunflower three different times (from memory, using a photo as reference, and using a real sunflower as reference). They are encouraged to notice more details each time as the subject is presented in ways that are more "real" each time. They will then measure real sunflowers using paper clip chains (non standard units of measurement) to increase the scientific detail of their drawings.

There is a follow up lesson using digital microscopes to further explore and pose questions for investigation.