Elementary
Microscopy Using the DigiScope 150
Learning was never so much fun... or so easy
Found a glassfish in the corner pet shop
that you’d like to put under a microscope?
Why not use your digital microscope instead?
With the press of a button, its video camera
will capture every millimeter of the
glassfish’s body and store it as a file on
your desktop in an image that can be
magnified up to the 200X scale
Sounds unbelievable? But then microscopy has
never been this exciting! Technology has now
made it possible for still images or full
motion video streams to capture the
microscopic world with an ease that is
simply mind blowing!
With a digital microscopes, instead of
setting their microscopes on the counters as
they enter the lab, students can simply flip
open their laptops and begin looking at
tissue samples, stored as desktop files.
Call it "virtual microscopy," the latest
breakthrough in the study of histology has
happened at the instrument level.
Most digital microscopes are designed for
use by middle and high school or college
students. These include advanced models such
as the Boreal and Motic Digital Microscopes,
with built-in CMOS digital camera (http://sciencekit.com/category.asp_Q_c_E_427251).
Therefore, students no more peep into “two
little holes” of a conventional microscope.
Instead, they log on straight to the network
and view online slides. Next, they use their
mouse to click on a particular part of a
tissue 'sample' or with the teacher’s help
have this image projected on a full screen
for the benefit of the entire class. What’s
more, online technology also permits
students to view several slides
simultaneously or zoom in on one cellular
structure.
For younger students there is the DigiScope
150. This great elementary level digital
microscope comes with a 10x to 50x manual
zoom lens that provides on-screen
magnification of 42x to 210x. Great for
studying bugs, leaves, small rocks or other
non-slide specimens, which can be measured
in microns, mm or inches. Images are
automatically saved to a folder and can be
printed out, measured, flipped, painted on,
labeled or "rubber stamped" will dozens of
fun shapes.
There is no end to what young students can
do with the DigiScope 150. The invert
function makes light areas dark and dark
areas light. Relief mode produces a very
cool "3D" effect. A time-lapse function
allows for the creation of "mini-movies"
that show specimen growth or movement over a
specific period of time. Some models even
make funny sounds to keep interest levels
high (which of course can be switched off if
it’s too distracting) and the intensity
control function allows you to choose the
illumination level that works best for you.
Could you ask for more?
One popular DigiScope activity is for
teachers to give their students a Petri dish
and ask them to bring something in for next
day’s classroom discussion. The next day the
teacher displays the objects and catalogs
the still images stored on the students’
desktop files. Or have students put a bit of
food into the Petri dish, set it aside for a
couple days or a week, and then examine the
mold. Yucky and cool.
To truly appreciate digital microscopy, you
have to see it. You have to view a tissue
sample on a screen, instead of under glass
to understand what this Gen-X technology is
about. The flexibility of use is to be
experienced to be believed. Best of all,
digital microscopes can go anywhere your
laptop goes because it's only connection is
the USB port on your computer.
But wait! Don’t throw out your old
microscopes yet! There are also digital
cameras that easily attach to any old light
microscope, turning what was an analog
microscopy experience into an exciting
digital experience.
For more information on the Digiscope 150
and Digiscope 300 Elementary Digital
Microscopes can be found at the
Science Kit web site or the
Edmund Scientifics web site.
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