Interactive Primary Newsletter 28 Digital Microscopes

Introduction It is only in the microscope that our life looks so big. Arthur Schopenhauer 1788 - 1860 We distribute over 5000 copies of each of four issues of this newsletter annually. They go into to every primary and secondary school in Scotland. Yet, on our courses and at various meetings, many primary teachers tell us they never see them. Into which black hole do those newsletters fall? Do they disappear between us and the local authority or evaporate somewhere between authority and individual teachers? Who can tell? Since we do receive requests from many primary school teachers, however, some copies must escape the drop. The content of this newsletter was prompted by such a request from a teacher, who asked us to look at some specific models of digital microscope suitable for use with 5-14 classes. The models evaluated were the Motic Digiscope DS-300 and the Intel QX-3. As a result of our evaluations, we think that each has a place in 5-14 Environmental Studies for both Science and ICT. Microscopes