exemplar activities

Unit 6 - Using a computer microscope

Swiss Cottage School, Camden

Context

As a science teacher with a specialism in Biology (I used to teach "A" level in a mainstream school) I have wanted a computer microscope for the 6 years that I have been in special education. Trying to get pupils to use ordinary microscopes is very difficult when they have motor difficulties or are wheelchair users, and when pupils are able to use them, getting them to focus on anything other than eyelashes is almost impossible. A computer microscope has always been out of reach of my budget and then magically, one arrived at school as a present from the government for science year (thank you!). At first I had visions of being able to set up the microscope with a suitable sample of cells or pond life and allow pupils to go visit the screen one by one. However, with the white board and projector currently in my possession I have been inspired.

Method

Installation of this equipment is very simple, the microscope is attached to the computer via a USB cable, the computer detects new hardware and you install the CD-ROM (piece of cake). The microscope itself is very easy to use and slips out of its casing as a makeshift web cam. My year 7 science groups are currently learning about living things and we have looked at the standard amoebae and other pond and puddle life as well as looking at some cells. The whiteboard is invaluable with the microscope because the pupils can all see animals and objects magnified to a scale that they would not be able to manage otherwise. Also the whole class can see the same thing at the same time! I have also used the microscope in web cam mode with the class to observe and record the metamorphosis of out tadpoles that we currently have in the science room. The pupils have been fascinated to see the first leg buds appear, invisible to the naked eye, and the emerging growing legs and arms and ever shrinking tail. Pupils ask to come and see them at lunch time, unheard of before. The web cam aspect has also been useful with a year 8 class looking at senses, watching a huge iris contracting and relaxing as light was brought closer to the eye and then removed. The microscope can also record images, either as a snapshot (useful record of the changes in tadpoles over time) or for short video clips.

Results

I have learned a great deal using the computer microscope and have revised my thinking on how a microscope can be used. Coming from mainstream I have had a very mainstream mind set about microscopes being used mainly for looking at dead prepared tissue, or for standard experiments with Brownian motion cells etc. With my new computer microscope however I have learned to broaden my thinking and am using the microscope for amazingly diverse objectives - time lapse photos of seeds germinating, life stages of a tadpole, reading very small text on food labels when looking at the energy content in chocolate bars (with a class - honest). The pupils have learned a great deal as the microscope has opened up a new world for them, we have even had an impromptu science club most lunchtimes with pupils finding interesting stones, flowers, dead spiders (yuk!) that they have wanted to look at in more detail. I think that as a stand alone the microscope would have been interesting and exciting anyway, but in conjunction with the interactive white board it has been inspirational.

Reflections

I have applied to our local ICT support unit for a permanent loan of an interactive white board and projector for after October when this one has to go back so that we can continue to use the microscope for the whole class. My practise has changed in the use of microscopes in lessons, previously I have had pupils using bioviewers as a safe and easy alternative that everyone could access. Indeed I still use bioviewers but now also put one of the slides under the microscope so that I can direct pupils to what I want them to look at. I would say that my delivery of lessons around microscopic and macroscopic objects has improved. I am already thinking ahead to looking at crystal formation, differences in metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary rocks etc in close detail, the list goes on and will probably keep growing.

eye	tadpole	ladybird

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