Technology in the Education Arena

Went into a 4th grade classroom with our new digital microscope.  The students are studying aboug rocks and minerals and the teacher had sand from different states.  She asked if I could come in with the projector and microscope.  I thought, well not sure how good this will turn out but will certainly give it a try.  Well, it was fascinating and I have a new appreciation of sand.  When we put the sand under the microscope, you could see the different types of rocks that make up the sand.  The students (and, of course, the adults) loved it.

The digital microscope connects to your PC or Macintosh via a USB cable.  The image is generated on your computer and you can create digital images of your shots, allowing you to just drag the image into a PowerPoint for students to type a summary.  We purchased our 50x microscope through Apple and have ours connected to a Macintosh.  There are also microscopes with magnifications of 100x, 200x, and now 400x.  The 50x costs approximately $225.  This tool would be so invaluable in a middle school/high school science class.