“These are so much better than the old microscopes. I can just look at the screen and see the image. I don’t have to keep looking through the eye piece all the time,” said Shawna Workman.
Katelynn Cruz agreed. “I like having the tablet show the image so we can just look at that screen instead of looking through the microscope lens. It doesn’t hurt my eyes as much.”
Teacher Jenna VanEnk purchased the seven new microscopes thanks to Wilson H. Craig Jr. and Thornapple Area Enrichment Foundation grants. Both are offered through the Barry Community Foundation. VanEnk said the new microscopes replace equipment that was more than 30 years old. Some of those microscopes didn’t work at all or didn’t function well.
One of the biggest benefits of the new microscopes is the attached tablets that project images from the slide onto the larger screen. This makes it easy for teams to view the same thing together and discuss what they’re seeing. Students said they also liked that the images are clearer, brighter and larger.
In a recent lab, students used the microscopes to identify different types and varieties of tissues and their function in the body.