Foldscope is an ultra-affordable field microscope, that you build from common materials such as paper. It is designed to be produced affordably, to be durable, and to give optical quality similar to conventional research microscopes. With magnification of 140X and imaging resolution of 2 micron; Foldscope brings microscopy to new places. Be it your kitchen or a mountain top. Compatible with almost all camera phones.

I backed this project on Kickstarter and just assembled it in the last week. It’s pretty amazing and I’m looking forward to spring when I can bring it along on hikes. I picked up both the deluxe kit for myself and a classroom kit for use at school.

The deluxe individual kit is designed to allow any curious explorer to perform microscopy experiments anywhere at anytime. This kit includes Foldscope (140x, 2um resolution microscope) in a portable and sturdy metal case including a plethora of tools for collecting samples, processing samples, preparing slides and directly collecting data on any cellphone via universal couplers - all possible while working in field settings.

Every deluxe kit includes:

• One Foldscope Assembly Sheet
• Two 140X micro-lens (one extra lens)
• Four magnetic couplers including cellphone attachment module
• LED illumination module with integrated magnifier for bright-field, dark-field and oblique phase imaging (button cell included)
• Diffuser stickers for light module
• Reusable sealable PVC slides with micro-wells and plastic coverslips
• Calibration/measurement grids
• Nylon filter sheets (5, 25, 100 micron spacings) for cell separation
• Stainless steel mesh filters (1mm and 300um mesh size)
• Custom sample collection ziploc bags
• Two eppendorf tubes for sample collection
• Plastic tweezers and plastic pipettes
• Prepared two test sample slides, three blank slides and slide storage box
• Field notepad with field guide and pencil
• Ultra clear roll of tape for making quick slides
• Complete assembly instruction sheet (English) with folding and usage instructions
• Sturdy metallic box for storage, field work with integrated instrument tray
• Small blunt end metal scissors
• Unique Foldscope Identification sticker code for access to Microcosmos community website (http://microcosmos.foldscope.com)
• Color stickers for labels

For those looking to get the most for their dollar, we offer the Basic Classroom Kit (BCK), which includes twenty (20) individually packed basic Foldscope kits.

The basic classroom kit is designed to supply a classroom (or other group) of 20 students with a Foldscope for each explorer. Each student receives the essentials (Foldscope, cell-phone coupler, assembly/instruction sheet, carrying pouch, paper and tape slides), and some accessories are provided collectively to be shared amongst the entire class.

• Foldscope (140x lens) x 20 sheets
• Cell phone coupler x 20
• Paper/tape slides x 20
• Instruction sheet x 20
• Customizable individual nylon carrying pouch x 20
• 1 LED/Magnifier with bright field, dark field and oblique phase imaging with magnifier (button cell included)
• 1 Slide box with two pre-made glass slides and three blank glass slides and storage box
• 1 Field guide

The biggest weakness of the classroom kit is that the included cell phone couplers need to be stuck to a cell phone with a double-sided sticker. I need to play around and see if there’s a way of temporarily mounting the couplers. (I can also see them disappearing over the years, so it would be nice to be able to reorder them as spare parts — something that is not currently possible.

Linked in the grade 10 biology unit and grade 11 biology page.

Tags: grade 10, grade 11, biology, resource