Bugscope: The Second Year Of A Sustainable Remote Microscope Project For K-12 Educational Outreach

Abstract

are automatically collected to provide an overall merit value for the proposed project. This information is then used to set up and schedule a session for the classrooms. During the session the acquired images are also automatically stored and can be later retrieved by the classroom (or any other interested group) though the Web. Without this automation, sustaining this project in the long term would be overwhelming and would require the assistance of a full time project administrator.Results and Conclusions: As of February 2000, we have supported over 30 classrooms (approximately 1000 students) from all over the country. We have had enthusiastic response from the students and teachers that have participated in the project and over 100 applications have been submitted. We currently routinely support two classrooms a week and we expect to support approximately 100 sessions a year. The project requires minimal staff resources and less than 3 hours of instrument time a week.The most obvious benefit of the Bugscope project is that is provides students with access to scientific instrumentation and expertise that would not otherwise be available to them. More importantly the project engages students in the scientific process and gives them some experience of the realities of conducting scientific research. In planning the experiment and providing the specimens, students have a sense of ownership of the project that would be very difficult to duplicate using a simulator or a virtual machine. This benefit was pointed out numerous times in the final evaluations submitted by the participating teachers.Addendum: As of 9/20/00 44 schools have participated in the project. • 1. http://buqscope.beckman.uiuc.edu 2.