Bugscope_ magnifying the connection between students, science, and scientists
DDN Articles - Bugscope: Magnifying the Connection Between Students, Science, and Scientists
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Author: Milton Chen, Edutopia.org | October 8th, 2006
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"What if expensive but important scientific instruments such as the Hubble telescope,
electron microscopes, or even remote sensing satellites were on the network, and
students could queue up requests for their use? This is not a farfetched scenario."
-- Dr. Elliot Soloway, professor of computer science and education, University of
In 1996, Jim Dieckmann's fourth- and fifth-grade students in Chula Vista, California,
studied insects by collecting specimens, obtaining information from Web sites onentomology, and creating multimedia reports. Together with their teacher, the studentsdeveloped a set of guidelines, known as an assessment rubric, to evaluate their reports
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according to use of text, images, graphics, and sound.
A special school-university partnership provided these students with even more powerful
learning experiences. Students sent their insects to nearby San Diego State University,
which was connected to their school via fiber optic cable. Through two-way audio andvideo, scientists Steve Barlow and Kathy Williams guided the students in examining their
insect specimens under an electron microscope. The students were visibly excited asthey prepared for each online session with the scientists. While many fourth gradersmay never have heard of an "electron microscope," these 10- and 11-year-olds were
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actually using one. A related multimedia feature (digital video clips) shows how thisproject unfolds.
Partnership Provides Low-Cost Access to Advanced Technology
Five years ago, that project's use of advanced technology might have seemed out ofreach for most schools. However, in 1999, another innovative partnership with thescientific community made the project done by Jim Dieckmann's class available to
potentially every school in the country with an Internet connection.
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With funding from the National Science Foundation, Illinois Consolidated Telephone
Company, and others, the University of Illinois's Beckman Institute for Advanced
Science and Technology launched Bugscope, where students around the countrycapture insect specimens, send them to the university, and then, through the Internet,control the university's $600,000 environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM)
for a two-hour period to view their insects. With the encouragement of funders inbusiness and government, this partnership is one of a growing number making remote
operation of sophisticated scientific instruments available to K-12 schools.
Beckman scientists designed Bugscope as a Web-based project to be low-cost and
sustainable by a small research group. They designed a Web interface for a remote
control panel so that students, using their classroom computer and a Web browser, cancontrol the microscope as they discuss their insects with the university's entomologists. Bugscope also helps to close the Digital Divide -- classrooms with minimal equipment,
whether in the inner- city or an isolated rural area, can utilize Bugscope. Some schools
have accessed Bugscope using a single computer and modem. Others have
sophisticated computer labs with high-speed Internet connections. The project is
available to K-12 schools at no cost.
Bugscope capitalizes on students' fascination with insects, like this hairy-legged waterbug. Credit: Beckman Institute, Bugscope Project
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Since the first classroom logged onto Bugscope in March 1999, more than 1,500
students in almost 60 schools have participated, from kindergarten through high school.
In 1999 alone, students collected over 4,000 images from the electron microscope.
Bugscope's goal is to reach up to 100 classrooms a year. Dr. Clint Potter, project co-
director, believes that "for most youngsters, bugs are second in popularity only to
dinosaurs. We are hoping to channel that enthusiasm for bugs to get students interestedin and excited about scientific research.
http://www.digitaldivide.net/articles/view.php?ArticleID=691
DDN Articles - Bugscope: Magnifying the Connection Between Students, Science, and Scientists
At a school in the Ozarks, a 10th-grade biology class used the electron microscope to
examine small aquatic insects as indicators of water quality. The region faces issues of
water pollution caused by runoff from chicken, hog, and cattle operations. The high
school students collected insect larvae, daphnia, and snail eggs from local water
sources and examined them under the microscope, making a total of 230 images.
Teachers can apply to participate in Bugscope from the project's Web site. Credit:
campus, one where we walkedup to the door without going
Teachers submitting evaluations emphasize the students' excitement and motivation and
comment on the project's effective use of the Internet. As Pam Van Walleghen, a
teacher at Urbana Middle School in Urbana, Illinois, testified, "Giving students the
opportunity to do 'real science' using state-of-the-art technology is about as exciting as
education can get." Bugscope engages students in the scientific process and gives
them experience with the realities of scientific research.
| May 26 Tonight was the final night of the
Bugscope grew out of Chickscope, another Beckman Institute project that allowed
students to study magnetic resonance images (MRI) of developing chicken embryos via
the Web. Chickscope encountered problems with the high cost of the technology and
the time commitment required from professional scientists. It now continues as an image
Young, Frankie Manning's son,dancing on behalf of his dad with
High School and College Students Act as Bugscope Staff
95 follows. Continuing thetradition started at Frankie's
One key to the sustainability of Bugscope is the training of local high school students,
who prepare the specimens and perform the initial microscope setup. Given the highcost of professional staff, a University of Illinois entomology major is employed to
participate in the online discussion with students. Teachers report that their students
respond very positively to communicating with the Bugscope team in real time while they
The Bugscope project has also automated many project administration and data
handling tasks. Online applications from teachers are automatically archived into a
database for review and scheduling by staff. During each online session, images are
stored for later retrieval by the classrooms or other interested groups.
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This developing movement to place high-powered scientific instrumentation in the hands
of students continues. Other remote-access projects involve students in using the
Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope and in exploring simulated Martian terrain
7:00pm: Filmmakers and ICCDeputy Prosecutor Fatou.
In just seven years, Professor Elliot Soloway's vision of the Internet has become areality, connecting students and teachers to scientists and their own high-tech tools.
The following Web sites appeared in this article:
| May 25 Infonetics Research released its
* Chickscope: chickscope.beckman.uiuc.edu
* Lego micro-rover: planetary.org/rrrr/index.html
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An adaption of this article is published in Edutopia: Success Stories for Learning in the
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