Dr Brian Thistleton is an entomologist who I had the pleasure of working with while at the department that is responsible for small things that crawl, fly, bite and cause problems with crops. He is also an avid photographer and collector of technical gadgets that make work easier (or are just too much fun to pass up).

An entomologist is a zoologist who focuses on insects...

He introduced me to the dino-lite digital microscope the other day, and although they have been around for a while, their application as a learning device became clear to me as he described it.

Before talking about the practicalities of using these in the classroom, home or in the field... down to tin tacks. They are a USB digital microscope and there are different varieties that range from just over 200 dollars to about 600 dollars.

From an entomologist's point of view or that of any scientist who needs to peer down a microscope, there is a big saving of time, money and danger if the scientist can sit safely in their laboratory in Darwin and via the Internet peer down the barrel of the microscope that may be located on a mango farm attached to a laptop with a 3G Internet connection. Even more interestingly as our quarantine folk try to protect our borders from nasty bugs and plant diseases entering Australia, they can use this technique to be the "eyes" for the biosecurity scientists, quickly ruling in or out the potential for disease or pest incursions.

In our own context, with one microscope, teachers or a selected student can control the microscope and display the contents being examined to the students' laptops without the need for the students to line up or crowd around the microscope. It also means that students, wherever they are studying can use tools like Adobe Connect, REACT, OCS or Skype to receive a lesson from a teacher in another city - or if that student has access to a microscope in their school, they can beam back to the rest of the class and the teacher the results of their findings.

This solution ticks a lot of boxes for me and if it guides, creates interest and educates more people in the sciences then that is good.

 

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