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Just wondering if anyone has used the microscope app for the iPad in their classroom. Does it work well and is the magnification clear? I am trying to write a grant and we have NO microscopes, but all teachers did receive iPad's at the end of last year. This could be used by multiple teachers.

Could you please give us the name of the app? Thank you.

I use a pro scope on top of the microscope eyepiece, take a picture and send it to the computer or Ipad. It works well and is not much fuss. Peggy Aubrey

The microscope I read about was the Focus Microscope that you can use with an iPad app.

Thank you Margaret. That will be another one that I will look into.

Hi! I think this is an awesome use for an ipad. I have recently heard of an application called smart microscope lite for the ipad which has virtual slides that you can zoom in on like a microscope.

A good macro lens for iPhone is the Ollo Scope. Not sure if this would work with a slide.

I have a Smrtscope iGo which works wirelessly with an iPad. Found here

The NSTA blogs have several entries on this topic: Tablets as Microscopes http://nstacommunities.org/blog/2012/08/29/tablets-as-microscopes/ Flatten the Classroom with the iGo Microscope http://nstacommunities.org/blog/2013/05/03/flatten-the-classroom-with-the-igo-microscope/ Mary B

Hi Mary,
Besides all the great ideas that others have shared here already, you might be interested in the virtual microscope lab that your classroom can use at the NASA Explorer School's Jet Propulsion Lab. The NSTA gives webinars on this a couple of times each year. The most recent one was in February. Here is the link to download the archived webinar and learn more about how to register your class to use it: Archive: High-Power Microscopes: The Virtual Lab, February 26, 2013
Carolyn

I recommend including the purchase of a microscope in your grant and then using the iPad app or computer to be the screen students can look at. Still, there are several microscopeless devices. I have heard some good things about the one below -- it can magnify 20-80X.

Proscope -- transform iphone or ipad into a powerful microscope

I agree with Emily and also recommend that you consider adding the purchase of a high quality microscope in your grant (or several classroom microscopes). Maybe I'm a bit old school, but it seems a crying shame that a school cannot afford to provide a science classroom with microscopes. Microscopes are a vital tool of scientific exploration and discovery. All students would benefit from the hands-on opportunity to use a real microscope in learning. In fact, you may have future microbiologists, geneticists or cell biologists in your classroom, and it would ignite their passion for science careers to have the experience of looking through a real microscope. Virtual microscopes can be fun, and may reduce classroom costs, but there is really no replacement for the real thing.... I know school budgets are tight and an App is a very creative idea for trying to workaround limited budgets - but science labs need basic scientific equipment..... or our students will not be well-trained for the workplace. One cost saving idea - check with local universities to see if they would consider donating used microscopes to your school when they upgrade their teaching labs (or perhaps sell at reduced cost). They often have technicians that can check and repair the microscopes prior to donation too. Microscopes are so much fun! Have you ever watched the excitement in a child's face when they look at that drop of pond water that they just placed on the microscope? That excitement of discovery of an entire new universe of microscopic life forms is hard to duplicate with a virtual microscope.

Turn your cell phone into a microscope http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpMTkr_aiYU