Schmeil Zoologische Wandtafeln No. 21: Wurzelfüssler des Süsswassers (Amoeben etc.).
Published by Quelle & Meyer
Leipzig
Carleton College Biology Department

Wall charts were an ideal for classroom study of microscopic organisms like the protozoa in this illustration. It would be impossible for a group of students to all see the same thing through a microscope but a chart allows all students to see the structure of the organism as well as examples of several types, and diagrams of their locomotion and reproduction.

This chart comes from a series produced by biologist and primary school director Otto Schmeil (1860-1943). Schmeil, one of the early advocates of educational wall charts, argued for the importance of the visual in biology education, believing that students needed to see – not just read about – plants and animals to come to a real appreciation and understanding of nature.