Educator Guide: Tools of the Trade: Home

Before you visit the Genovesi Environmental Study Center (GESC) with your class, review the Educator's Guide to prepare for your students.

• Read the Essential Questions (p. 1) and Connections to Standards (p. 2) to decide how you want to link your curriculum with your field trip
• Complete the Pre-Visit Lesson with your class activating student interest and engagement
• Come to GESC ready to engage and learn with our experiential, hands-on field trip program, Amazing Amphibians

• Why do scientists measure?
• How do scientists measure?
• Why do scientists use standard units to measure things? 
• Which scientists use measurements, and what do they do with the measurements they collect? 

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• The earliest microscopes were known as “flea glasses” because they were used to study tiny insects. In the 1950’s, Zacharias and Han Jansen, a father and son, developed the first compound microscope.
• An object’s mass never changes unless you remove some of the object, however its weight can change because weight depends on the force of gravity. For example, an individual who weighs 200 pounds here on Earth would only weigh 76 pounds on Mars.
• The human body has many interesting ratios. For example, for most of us, our arm span is almost the same distance as our height. Your arm span is the distance across your body from the tip of the middle finger on one hand to the tip of the middle finger on your other hand when your arms are outstretched horizontally.
• The height of a horse is measured in "hands" from the hoof to the top of the shoulder. One “hand” is equal to four inches, which is approximately the distance across your joints just above the palm of your hand (not including the thumb).