1 / 20

Interdisciplinary learning (IDL) –Turning a smartphone into a microscope

This project involves turning a smartphone into a microscope for interdisciplinary learning. Students design and build the microscope using simple materials and then apply it across various subjects like science, art, and computing. By exploring refraction, lenses, and practical application, students enhance their skills in STEM education. The project encourages critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity while deepening their understanding of different disciplines. Through hands-on experience, students can improve the design for better portability and efficiency. This engaging project provides a unique opportunity for students to collaborate, innovate, and develop a deeper appreciation for science and technology.

donovand
Download Presentation

Interdisciplinary learning (IDL) –Turning a smartphone into a microscope

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Interdisciplinary learning (IDL) –Turning a smartphone into a microscope

  2. ‘...learners tackle relevant and meaningful questions or problems that will allow them not simply to make connections between two or more disciplines but also to draw on and develop their disciplinary knowledge, understanding and skills and thereby deepen their understanding of these disciplines’ STEM Education Committee report on IDL, ‘Pillars and Lintels’ Prof Colin Graham

  3. IDL and CfE BTC 1 – ‘interdisciplinary projects and studies’ described to be one of the four main features of the new curriculum BTC 3 – ‘can take the form of individual one-off projects or longer courses of study’ The reality….

  4. ‘There is an increasing demand for a higher level of skills of a multidisciplinary nature’ Dr Brian Bathgate, Chair of Life Sciences Advisory Board Computational Biology – image of mapping for fetal alcohol syndrome taken from BBC Exposure programme NASA ExoMars Rover mission – 2018, searching for evidence of life ever existing on Mars

  5. Turning a Smartphone into a microscope – Multidisciplinary project How to do it and experiences from Robin Wallace, Glenrothes High School

  6. Suggested resources required These can be changed depending on your design, the only key component is the lens (and a camera phone!!) 5mmx50mm roofing bolts, Legs for the microscope (http://www.screwfix.com/p/roofing-bolts-bzp-m5-x-50mm-pack-of-10/52384 for an example of these) Clear 3mm perspex , stage part where samples sit Tinted 5mm perspex , platform for phone and microscope lens 4mm x 30mm Pan head machine crew, focus bolt that runs through phone platform and flexes stage. 5mm Hex nuts 5mm washers for legs but also to act as a spacer between phone platform and stage 7mm Collimating lens http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-x-Collimating-lens-Focusing-Lens-7mm-for-Laser-Diodes-/261072485854

  7. Craft, design and Technology – Pupils design a template and make the microscope using 5mm perspex Science – Pupils learn about refraction and lenses and then use the microscope for whatever it is you would like to do!! Other subjects – Art, Computing, business……

  8. Focus bolt through top platform that pushes down onto stage causing it to flex Leg, then spacers to separate top platform from stage (approx 2mm gap) Example of completed microscope (minus the phone!!) Top platform Lens in place (see later for how this was achieved) Stage underneath, 3mm clear perspex

  9. Another example. You can see the focus bolt Stage Top platform for phone Slide out of view on stage, but magnified image is appearing on the phones camera.

  10. Focus bolt hole, drilled and then tapped to suit focus bolt thread size 5mm diameter legs holes, drilled to suit the chosen diameter of legs. We chose 3 legs as this was a cheaper option. Note that the top platform and stage can be cut and shaped in whatever way the pupils want.

  11. Glenrothes High School

  12. S1 (12/13 year old) girls final microscope at Glenrothes High School. Pupils are designing and building the microscopes in CDT and then using them in both Science and Art later in the year.

  13. Extra + a little Physics to finish!

  14. Another example of a device that has been designed – The ‘Foldscope’ http://www.ted.com/talks/manu_prakash_a_50_cent_microscope_that_folds_like_origami?language=en Could our device be altered to make it more portable (fit in a pocket with the phone) and use less materials in the construction??

  15. Design adapted Shown is the first attempt at our Microscope taken from ‘Instructables’ website. You could build this and ask pupils to improve it as we have. 5mm lens in 3mm perspex was good, but 3mm perspex isn’t as easy to shape. A 7mm lens allowed a better image quality but lower magnification Stage was to cumbersome and didn’t allow fine level of focussing required. Depth of focus was in the range of 0.2mm so this method was not ideal. No need for this base, nor for a light as in the original design. We found that white paper and background light was suffice. Pupils may want to include a light or mirror in their design?

  16. The science behind the project Ray diagram above demonstrated how the light is being refracted for a 3mm lens when placed 4mm in front of a camera phone lens/

  17. Higher Magnification? • A 2.5mm diameter ball lens with an effective focal length of 2.5mm will give a magnification of 100x • But the sample would have to be in contact and only a very small portion of the image would be in focus. So we decided against this design.

  18. Acknowledgements Thank you to Dave Craig from Selex Es and Hazel Craig from ST Microelectronics for their continued support with this project. And a thank you to Robin Wallace and the other teachers at Glenrothes High School who have trialled the project with an S1 cohort. Original concept from http://www.instructables.com/id/10-Smartphone-to-digital-microscope-conversion/

More Related