Exploratory Learning with a Digital Microscope
Inspire, Explore, and Apply
Copyright © 2004 The George Lucas Educational Foundation
* Engaging and exciting.
* A serious tool that is simple to use and fun.
* Inexpensive and easily purchased.
What is special about the digital microscope?
Photograph credit: Rebecca L. McNallInvigorating Science Teaching with aHigh-Tech, Low-Cost ToolBy Lynn Bell and Randy Bell
How is this digital microscope used?
• Provide hands-on, exploratory learning opportunities.• Encourage interaction, cooperation, and problem
solving.• Build workplace skills, motivation, engagement, and
self-esteem.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (1996, April). Technology and Young Children—Ages 3 Through 8: A Position Statement of the National Association of Young Children.
WestEd. (2002, August). Investing in Technology: The Learning Return. WestEd Policy Program.
Why use the digital microscope?
• Form groups of two or three.• Read the article Bugscope: Magnifying the Connection
Between Students, Science, and Scientists: http://www.glef.org/php/article.php?id=Art_771
• Explore the Bugscope Web site: http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/
• How might the Bugscope Web site (http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/) further enhance the use of the digital microscope?
Activity 1:
• Form groups of two or three.• Review lesson plan: Insects, Pre-Kindergarten to
Grade 2.• Visit the WebQuest: An Insect’s Perspective.• How might the WebQuest be used in conjunction with
the example lesson sequence?
The “Insects” learning sequence is based on “Brrrr, It’s Alive,” published in ISTE’s National Educational Technology Standards for Students: Connecting Curriculum and Technology (2000).
Activity 2: