Students in our integrated science classes are joining thousands of other participants in a global community of learning to explore the microscopic world all around us. The discoveries our students make will be cataloged on the foldscope website and will have the potential to make tangible advances to the fields of science, medicine and industry. BOCES has received 12 of the Origami-based paper devices, and students will be testing them in the classrooms. Each foldscope costs approximately 50 cents, whereas regular microscopes would cost many times that amount (and be much heavier). It is thought that the foldscope could be a game changer in the field of science by increasing access to those who don’t currently have microscopes. They can be dropped from a tall building without breaking and can be easily carried, for example, into villages in developing nations to help identify deadly viruses, etc.
Seniors in our Certified Nurse Assistant program recently used foldscopes to examine microscopic organisms contained in bone marrow. See photo gallery.
For more about foldscopes, click on this link:
http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2014/03/10/stanford-bioengineer-develops-a-50-cent-paper-microscope/
Below: a Foldscope