Observing Microorganisms Found at Your School with a Smartphone

Finding things to look at under the microscope is pretty easy. This video shows a great source of microorganisms that can be found at any school. What is interesting is how to view and share what you are looking at. I purchased a Skylight smartphone adapter for a microscope. The idea is to attach the camera of a smartphone to a microscope and use the smartphone as a monitor and a picture/video recorder. It's a great concept in theory, and the reality isn't too bad. It takes a bit of time to adjust the adapter so that video/pictures come out looking acceptable. I got to thinking that students might be able to use their smartphones, without the adapter, although picture/video quality won't be as good. I think that if students got to record what they see through the microscope they could share their observations with each other and basically become the teacher/mentor to each other. Google has recently created Google+ Events. With Events a teacher can invite students to share pictures of a nucleus from an onion cell. Students can take a picture and share it instantaneously via "party mode". Other students would be able to see the pictures and they can comment if they think it's correct or not and add a picture of their own. This would lead to a more interactive dynamic between the students and the teacher would not have to go from microscope to microscope to verify if students were getting it or not. I think this would lead to many possibilities in the classroom. I look forward to testing this out.