How many school kids can say they've used a scanning electron microscope to investigate insects they've collected? Thousands, actually. Since 1999, members of the Beckman Institute’s Imaging Technology Group (ITG) have made their Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) available to school groups that successfully apply to the Bugscope program. And best of all, it's free!
What Students Can Do with the Scanning Electron Microscope:
An ESEM uses sophisticated technology to examine objects in great detail, allowing students to see bug parts undetectable to the naked eye or with a conventional microscope. Students can view insects at magnifications up to 20,000x actual size.
Using software developed by ITG, students control the microscope in real-time over the Internet. With a constant streaming video feed of the microscope’s image, and remote control over magnification, focus, and stage navigation, classroom teachers and students anywhere in the world can conduct research on the bugs of their choice.
How the Bugscope Program Works:
Teachers who want to use the scanning electron microscope can apply to the Bugscope program online. When your application is accepted, Bugscope will schedule an hour of ESEM time for your school. Your students collect insects and mail them to the Beckmen Institute. The Bugscope folks prepare your specimens for insertion into the scanning microscope.
On the day you are scheduled for microscope time, you simply log in over the Internet. Bugscope staff will chat with students through the web interface, describing what the students are seeing and answering their questions in real-time. You, or your students, control the microscope from your classroom.
What Happens After the Bugscope Session?:
After your Bugscope session, all the images and your chat log are archived. Students can review the discussion and the stored pictures, and use the images in reports, class websites, or other extension activities.
Here are a few websites created by schools after their Bugscope experience:
Who Can Apply to Bugscope?:
Any public or private classroom is eligible to participate in the Bugscope project. Bugscope is primarily oriented for K-12 classrooms but informal education programs, such as after school or museum programs, are also encouraged to apply. There is no cost to participate in the project.
To participate, your school needs a broadband connection, and computers with up-to-date web browsers that support Javascript, CSS, and XMLhttpRequest. Once your session is scheduled, you will have access to a test page to make sure your school's technology will support the microscope interface.
To learn more about Bugscope, visit the project's website.
