education & outreach
Explore Microscopy
Welcome to Explore Microscopy presented by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research as part of the Kansas City Remake Learning Days Festival. We are excited to be a part of the festival and grateful to the KC STEM Alliance for bringing it to Kansas City.
Come with us on an exploration as we share our love of microscopes and the joy of scientific discovery.
Foldscopes & accessories can be purchased at the Foldscope Store. We will also be handing them out at some events during Remake Learning Days.
Once you have your Foldscope, the exploration begins below. The activities are designed for ages 11/12+ but all ages are welcome to participate.
For questions, please contact outreach@stowers.org
Make a Microscope
What Your Origami Microscope is Capable of
Inside the mesh packet of your Explore Microscopy Kit is a powerful tool called a Foldscope that you can use to explore the hidden world around you. You might be amazed to find out that this tool is a paper microscope that you can make yourself. Even though it is self-assembled and costs less than a dollar to produce, it is capable of viewing objects at 140X magnification and 2 micron resolution.
What can you see at 140X magnification with your foldscope?
The Foldscope Origin Story
The inventor of the Foldscope, Manu Prakash, developed this microscope to give anyone the ability to be a scientist, to ask curiosity-driven questions, and to explore the world around them. Watch the video on the right to learn more about Foldscope.
activity
Guess the image
Manu Prakash visited the Stowers Institute for Medical Research as part of our BIG IDEAS @ScienceStowers seminar series.
The BIG IDEAS @ScienceStowers lectures bring cutting-edge and provocative scientific ideas in an engaging and accessible way to the greater Kansas City community. They are our version of TED talks. The series is designed to inspire a thirst for scientific knowledge and illustrate the roles that scientific discoveries play in our lives and communities.
To view his seminar, videos from past talks and to find out about upcoming seminars click HERE
Instructions for Making Your Microscope & Viewing Your First Slide
Instructions for making a microscope are in your kit but watching a video can be helpful. On the right is a step-by-step video in English.
This video also shows you how to prepare your first slide with fibers from your shirt using materials provided in your kit. We highly recommend making this simple slide as your first slide. Looking at prepared slides is also helpful before making slides from more complex samples.
Foldscope Assembly videos are available in Spanish, Chinese and other languages too.
Explore the Microscopic World Around You
Viewing Slides with a Foldscope
There are three ways to look at samples with your Foldscope: by eye, through your cell phone camera, or by projecting an image on a wall. Check out the video to learn more.
Activities with Your Foldscope
Let’s create more slides using the materials we have provided and simple objects you can find in your home, backyard, or neighborhood. Check out the three activities below. Do one or all three!
A Salty Comparison
In your kit are two small bags of salt: Table salt and Kosher salt. They look similar to the naked eye but what do they look like with your Foldscope? Watch the video, make a slide and find out. For this activity you will need the following materials supplied in your kit:
- 2 paper slides (ones with 2 rectangular holes)
- clear stickers
- 2 small bags of salt (T=Table salt, K=Kosher salt)
- LED light
- Phone coupler
- An assembled Foldscope
The video shows someone observing the salt samples with a phone but you can also view them with your eye.
A Dandy Adventure
When the weather gets warm, dandelions come out to play everywhere in parks and in backyards. What’s the secret to their success and how they can spread so easily? Watch the video, make a slide, and find out. For this activity you will need the following materials supplied in your kit as well as a dandelion:
- 2 paper slides (ones with 2 rectangular holes)
- clear stickers
- LED light
- Phone coupler
- An assembled Foldscope
The video shows someone observing dandelions with a phone but you can also view them with your eye. Thin petals of other flowers can also be viewed with your foldscope.
Secrets of the Screen
In this activity you will be examining an LCD computer screen up close. If you don’t have access to a computer almost any LCD screen will work like those found on a phone or tv. The video will instruct you to disassemble your Foldscope temporarily. Don’t worry; it will go back together. Just be careful. You don’t even need to make an actual slide for this activity, but you’ll need to gather the following materials:
- An LCD screen (computer, phone, TV)
- Phone coupler
- An assembled Foldscope
The video shows someone observing an LCD screen with a phone but you can also view it with your eye.
Unleash Your Curiosity. What Will You Discover?
Now that you've gained some experience it's time to explore and create your own adventure! Look around your house, your backyard, or your neighborhood. What would you like to examine close-up at 140X? What are you curious about? What do you want to look at first?
Share Your Discoveries
Scientists don't just keep their discoveries to themselves. They share them with other scientists and with the world! We invite you to share your images, observations, and discoveries in the Microcosmos Foldscope community. Sign in under the user name, “Explore Microscopy Project”. The password is “Remake Learning!”.
You can also share your images on social media. There are links to share to Twitter and Facebook directly from Microcosmos.
Alternatively, you can log into your personal social media accounts directly and share.
Share your images and discoveries on social media using the following hashtags and tags: #RemakeDays, #RemakeDaysKC, #WhenYouWonder, @ScienceStowers
Explore Further with Stowers Scientists
From Scientific Sample to Image
Tour the Stowers Electron Microscopy Facility and Get an Extreme Close-up of an Amazing Animal
We Make so Many Microscope Slides at the Stowers Institute We Need a Robot
Looking to Small Worms for Big Answers
slideshow
Beautiful Images and Cutting Edge Science from Stowers Researchers
Additional Resources
We recommend these external sites for further exploration of the microscopic world and imaging science:
