Project Description

Biology is in high demand program for students, either they take for transferring to other programs or for their major program. One of the skills that Biology students need to have is the ability to see and analyze specimen through microscope. For someone who has low vision, it is very difficult to look through the eyepiece lens and describe the specimen. They need a large monitor or a device that allows them to zoom into the object in a very large scale without looking through the lens.

Other barriers for students with low visions include group projects that require participation in the lab hours, some learning activities such as drawing, filling tubes, measurement, and time limitation.

When we first found out about Foldscope, we were very excited and we thought this could be a good solution. It made of cardboard with 140 times and 2-micron-resolution magnification. It allows learners to attach the magnifier with cellphone and captures in still images or videos. It doesn’t require any applications or data subscriptions. It is very compact and lightweight so students can take it to a field trip and be able to exam and explore outdoor natures. The cost of a Foldscope kit is $40 and comes with all the basic biology lab kit, such as tubes, tweezers, pipettes, and glass slides.

PROJECT GOALS:

The goal of this study is to explore an alternative tool to help students with low visions completed biology class activities.

LESSON LEARNED

We all got together in one day in the Biology lab at Rock Creek, one of PCC campuses. Before we started the study, we spent some time discuss about most common barrier in Biology for them.

STUDY FOUND

The students were assigned to exam specimens from water sample and plants using Foldscope. The instructor provided a couple of assembled Foldscope, water and plants. The students were assigned to place specimen to the slide and examined the result using their mobile device.

As a result, it was quite challenges for the students to use Foldscope complete the assignment for the following reasons:

Usability

One of the issues that the students pointed out was the size of his hands are too big for to insert a slide into the Foldscope and he felt he could tear the paper. He also mentioned the issue with left-hand. Most cellphone and tablet cameras locate on the right side so it was challenging for him.

Zooming in visual view was also difficult because the specimen must be in precise position so they were able to see. Specially, when working with water sample, the ameba kept moving so it is quite challenged to follow it and adjust their view at the same time.

Sticky tape that used to stick magnetic ring to the camera of the device wasn’t sticky enough so it kept peeling off.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADDITIONAL INVESTIGATION

As a result, Foldscope may not be the right tool for people with low vision. I still encourage people to try. The kit comes with the basic tools that allow learners to access and expand their curiosity in science anywhere at anytime.

The following are videos from study results. The first video shows specimens from my experiments when I visit Thailand. They are from water samples, mosquito and plants. The second video was recorded during the study with the visually impaired students.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Foldscope Tutorials
• Foldscope community