In the basic microbiology, zoology, or botany laboratories, students are handed a microscope, slides, cover slips, dissection kits, and instructions on what they should be seeing under the microscope. These students should know where to get their specimens, how to slice their specimens thinly and in what direction or orientation, how to stain these specimens to make the individual cells visible under the microscope, and how to identify the different parts of the cells or organs that they are seeing.

These students, however, have come from years and years of preparation and training in the laboratory. Younger, less experienced students will need a good deal of assistance from their professors or peers, and they will need to be watched as they use the microscope and slides for the first time. For instance, microbiology laboratories need to make smears of bacteria regularly, and such processes require the use of volatile chemicals and open flames on which the specimens can be fixed onto the slides. Nearly all laboratories also require knowledge on the use of a microscope, which can actually be damaged or destroyed if left under the wrong hands.

Professors and researchers, therefore, will often prefer to use prepared slides when conducting laboratory sessions if they have to deal with inexperienced students. Slides are especially popular in elementary schools, where children have not had a good deal of microscope and slide making experience, but who can benefit from seeing cells under the microscope and knowing all about the world unseen by human eyes.

Research Comes First: Knowing the Slides that You Want

If you are looking for prepared slides, you will need to work out your budget first. Prepared slides can be expensive if you buy them individually. You can also buy whole sets of slides, but this can force you into making an even larger purchase, which can be inconvenient if you need only a few slides from an entire set. This means that you need to assess completely what you want to get for your laboratory or classroom.

Check your protocols, or take a good look at your curriculum. Do you need a set of cross sections of animal organs, or a series of longitudinal sections of a parasitic worm? Do you need a whole mount of bacterial cells stained using a specific staining procedure, or do you need a smear of blood cells? Do you need human, animal, or plant chromosomes for your genetics class; or do you need a series of insect wings or bird feathers for your elementary biology class? As soon as you determine exactly what slides you need, you will know what slides you have to purchase and whether you should get individual slides or a whole set.

Scan the Market: Finding the Slides that You Need

There are many websites that you can find online that specialize in making prepared slides. There are websites that specialize in making slides for elementary school students, and will feature sets of slides that have bees’ wings, duck feathers, bee stings, and other interesting things that your young students will appreciate. There are also websites that specialize in making slides for high school students, and will feature sets of slides that have bacterial mounts, blood cell mounts, and other simple, but interesting things that older students will learn from.

There are other websites that also specialize in advanced sciences and can prepare slides based on a custom order. You may ask for prepared slides of longitudinal or cross sections of plant or animal parts, or special stains that will allow you to identify rare species of microbes under the microscope. Such websites will of course demand higher prices for their products, so you will need a much larger budget in order to pay for the slides.

Make sure that you have more than one website or prepared slides making company in mind. Ask for slide samples in order to assess which company you should make your purchases from. The most reputable companies should have the finances (as well as kindness) to give you a few samples. Once you have these samples, look at them under the microscope and see which ones are best mounted. If you are making a large order of prepared slides, don’t be shy to ask for a discount.

These are only a few tips that you might want to follow as you scan the market and see what slides you should purchase. For more information, look through your curriculum and consult with your fellow researchers and faculty. With the right slides, you can have a better class and thus teach your students well.