Graticule slides

A graticule slide is a microscope slide that contains a mm grid of lines. They allow the size of objects seen under magnification to be measured. A simple version of a graticule slide can be made by anyone with access to a drawing program. Something as simple as the drawing tools that come with Microsoft Word will do (see instructions below).

Once there is a suitable grid on the computer [you could download the one to the side; see figure 1], a test print should be produced. The size of the printed square should be measured and the grid should be resized until a cm² grid is printed. This grid can now be printed on photocopiable OHP sheets.

The OHP sheets can be glued to a glass slide with clear nail varnish.

See also: Constructing school science lab equipment

Instructions to create a grid

Use of Word drawing tools (in italics)

1. In Word, go to view, toolbars. and make sure that 'Drawing' is ticked. Then select a line from the drawing tool pallet. [ it is a picture of a line next to 'AutoShapes']
2. Draw a single straight, vertical line. Copy and paste the line 9 times.
3. Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to line up the lines so that you have 10 evenly spaced lines.
4. Select all ten lines at once by holding down the shift key and left clicking on each line in turn.
5. Go to Draw then Group, to group all ten lines into a single object.
6. Copy then paste the lines then go to 'Draw' then 'Rotate or flip' and rotate by 90°
7. Line up the vertical and horizontal lines and by using the corner tabs resize them until there is a perfect grid without any overhangs. Then select both sets of lines and group them together into one object.You should now have a square grid.