Quest and badge framework
The students will be each given a paper FoldScope kit, and each student or group of students will be challenged to find, photograph, and present objects around the student’s environment. The students will need to think of objects to view with the portable microscope that will be interesting, complex, and invisible to the naked eye. The students can use digital effects form the mobile technology that will collect the microscopic images to enhance, colorize, or manipulate the images without distorting the initial image in a way that it no longer represents the initial specimens. Students should consider the material and objects that they interact with every day as their first type of samples before they move into the more exotic or obscure samples. The larger goal of the quest is to allow the students to capture microscopic images while learning about the structures that make up these objects. Students will earn badges as incentives to continue these quests and find more examples of the structures they observe. These quests will allow students to capture and submit images that can be used in games that challenge other students to guess which full-size image matches the microscopic image, sharing these images in a way that will give students a view into the many different microscopic textures and structures around them.
Each quest has four common steps or sections, and each quest is part of the epic, which moves the student to the final project.
1. Initial question or challenge
2. Define the steps of the quest
3. Provide feedback and direction
4. Completion and reward
Digital badges are presented for each quest, and the design creates a final badge that includes the previous badges. Students will gain more and more flexibility as they progress through the quests; this should allow for expansion and a wider collection of samples. The quests below represent the number of steps needed to complete the epic, and earn the badges for each quest and finally assemble the badges into the epic badge.
Build the FoldScope tool
Process: Each student or student group will be given a FoldScope kit and the individual or group need to follow the instructions to build a working foldscope. Students will be asked to view a simple object like a feather or piece of fabric through the FoldScope to confirm they can see under magnification. Students will also be asked to shine the light through the foldscope and project an image on a surface. The students can present a picture captured with a mobile phone of the finished device as evidence of completions
Concept: The focus on this exercise in the series of tasks within the quests will be to have the student take personal ownership of the portable microscope as well as relating the historical single-lens microscope with the modern equivalent. Students will assemble parts of the foldscope that will perform the functions of focus and sample manipulation.
Standards: from NYS standard http://www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/science-learning-standards
4-PS4-2. Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.
1-PS4-3. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.
Try the FoldScope tool
Process: Initial samples can be presented by the instructor so students can have a starting point. Students will then be asked to view 3 natural objects and 3 manmade objects through the Foldscope and describe or draw the images they view. The students can use the FoldScope with or without the LED light at this point; the simple use will be to view the object through the FoldScope while pointing it at a light source.
Concept: With a properly assembled single-lens microscope, students will be able to view the microscopic world similar to the first single-lens microscopes used in the 1600s. The history of the single-lens microscope is discussed in the course material, and the students will use a modern tool that uses the same physical features and characteristics of the initial discovery.
Standards: from NYS standard http://www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/science-learning-standards
1-PS4-3. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.
MS-LS1-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
Collect images with the tool and a mobile phone
Process: Students will take the next step in the FoldScope build and attach a magnet to the lens of a mobile phone, and capture images with the mobile phone through the FoldScope. Students will use the materials they discover in the last quest and generate several views through the FoldScope and capture these views with the mobile phone. Collect and photograph five different synthetic fibers or fibrous objects and present the microscopic images of these objects. Examples can be fabrics, felts, brushes, etc. Then collect and photograph five different materials that are constructed with natural fibers. Examples may include papers, fabrics, steel wool, etc.
This quest helps the students start to understand the differences in the material and their textures as well as defining different materials that are natural and manufactured. The quest will allow students to try many of the procedures and technology that will be needed in the summative project. The students can compare their final collection of images as evidence of completing the quest, and students can present the materials they selected for the quest.
Concept: The students will focus on the structures of the natural and manmade objects and capture images of microscopic form and structure. Some natural objects will present the structures of cells, and some manmade objects will display the structure of the natural raw material these manmade objects are built from.
Standards: from NYS standard http://www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/science-learning-standards
MS-LS1-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
Find variation in the object selected
Process: If the student has selected a man-made object like cloth or linen to observe and capture, then the student will expand and capture a minimum of 5 different types of linen and compare these images and textures. If the student has selected a natural object like an insect, they will now need to collect and compare and contrast at least five different insects or insect parts.
Concept: Students will make the connection between different types of material that are manufactured from the same raw material like cotton or paper, and examine the structures of the different materials. The connections created when the students observe natural materials like insects, leaves, or food materials will display the cellular structure of these items, and students will see the similarities and develop groupings of material types based on microscopic features.
Standards: from NYS standard http://www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/science-learning-standards
MS-LS1-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells; either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
Improve and enhance the images
Process: This quest will help students focus on the details of the tool and learn how to improve the quality of their photographs. Students will select 2-5 photographs from the last quest to practice enhancing the images. The files should be copied and renamed so the students can start with at least 2 copies of the files, one original and one modified copy. Students will use tools like Microsoft Paint, Adobe, Photos, or similar applications to enhance the images and save one or more versions of the enhanced images. Students will need to produce one or more before-and-after image sets showing off their best work.
Concept: Image manipulation and enhancement are often used when observing images to present and highlight the structures or features of interest. Microscope slides are often stained to highlight certain features or internal cellular structures. These same processes can be simulated with digital tools available on the portable phones or standard computers; this gives the students the flexibility to modify the images collected through the simple single-lens microscope and present them in a way that can mimic expensive bench microscope and imaging tools.
Standards: NYS common core standards did not have a standard related to computer work or image manipulation.
Present the images
Process: Students should re-capture the images from the previous quest and enhance them as part of this final quest, or if the samples are not available anymore, then the students can re-use the best images collected in the previous quests. A poster or electronic document will be produced to present these images and content should be added to compare and contrast the different objects selected.
Concept: Students will use images and models to present the objects they observed in the samples they studied. Several man-made materials will still have remnants of the natural materials they were initially manufactured from, many fabrics and objects made from fibrous plant material will still show the structures from the plants they were derived from.
Standards: from NYS standard http://www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/science-learning-standards
MS-LS1-2. Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways parts of cells contribute to the function.