Abstract
We developed a simple, cost-effective smartphone microscopy platform for use in educational and public engagement programs. We demonstrated its effectiveness, and potential for citizen science through a national imaging initiative, EnLightenment. The cost effectiveness of the instrument allowed for the program to deliver over 500 microscopes to more than 100 secondary schools throughout Scotland, targeting 1000's of 12-14 year olds. Through careful, quantified, selection of a high power, low-cost objective lens, our smartphone microscope has an imaging resolution of microns, with a working distance of 3 mm. It is therefore capable of imaging single cells and sub-cellular features, and retains usability for young children. The microscopes were designed in kit form and provided an interdisciplinary educational tool. By providing full lesson plans and support material, we developed a framework to explore optical design, microscope performance, engineering challenges on construction and real-world applications in life sciences, biological imaging, marine biology, art, and technology. A national online imaging competition framed EnLightenment; with over 500 high quality images submitted of diverse content, spanning multiple disciplines. With examples of cellular and sub-cellular features clearly identifiable in some submissions, we show how young public can use these instruments for research-level imaging applications, and the potential of the instrument for citizen science programs.
Highlights
The microscope is perhaps one of the most symbolic instruments in science and microscopy, and one of the highest impact technologies in all of science
We developed a national educational microscopy imaging challenge for 12–14 years olds based around a smartphone microscope platform
A single aspheric lens offers a low cost, small footprint solution compared to compound objectives. These are what are typically found on smartphone microscope cameras
Summary
The microscope is perhaps one of the most symbolic instruments in science and microscopy, and one of the highest impact technologies in all of science. The focus is on the application of the microscope, disengaging the public from the principles of function and in doing so from much of the impact To address this disengagement, we developed a national educational microscopy imaging challenge for 12–14 years olds based around a smartphone microscope platform. The smartphone microscope is an instrument that pairs external objective optics with a smartphones’ built-in camera lens, camera and display screen to produce a simple microscope platform It is not a new concept and several examples of varying complexity have been developed for different applications[7,8]. A single aspheric lens offers a low cost, small footprint solution compared to compound objectives These are what are typically found on smartphone microscope cameras. Comparable results were achieved with other leading camera models at the time, including the Apple iPhone[6] and the Samsung Galaxy S5
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