Know More about Electron Microscopes for School Use
Schools can be boring at times but there are subjects which can draw the interests of the students. Science, for one, with all the laboratories and experiments can be exciting. Although many can feel eerie about touching and viewing specimen through a microscope, it can generally be awesome! And one type of microscope that is commonly used in schools is the electron microscope. What then is an electron microscope and what is its difference from the other types?
Electron microscopes from the word itself are those that use electrons to create and illuminate the image of a specimen under observation. These types of microscopes have higher resolving power and magnification than light microscopes. It can achieve a magnification of about 2 million times; thus allowing it to view smaller objects and the very minute details on these objects. While the light microscopes use glass lenses on focusing light, electron microscopes use electromagnetic and electrostatic lenses on specimen imaging and controlling of illumination.
There are 2 types of electron microscopes that are commonly used in schools; the TEM or Transmission Electron Microscope and the SEM or Scanning Electron Microscope. TEM uses electrons rather than white light to observe specimen. The lenses of TEM are electromagnets and the images formed through magnification can be changed by using various strong lenses.
SEM on the other hand, provides surface images and is capable of both good depth and high magnification of field. SEM uses beams of electrons to observe specimen. It has been widely used for materials characterization. Because traditional use of SEM leads to boring, less efficient hands-on student interaction with the machine (because they take turns on the operation) certain developments are being conducted. Iowa State University, as an example, developed a multiple user system of SEM. Students’ workstations which are computer based (using LAN) are remotely networked to assist the students and for them to access the image in real time.
Schools have been so inclined in different experimentations and specimen observation. Certain schools find electron microscopes as useful tools in undergoing these endeavors. Many apt to use these highly complicated types of microscopes for their students, faculty and staff to be more advance and successful on their fields. Information about the theories, descriptions and applications of electronic microscopes are integrated to the lesson plans and is thus a part of the science curriculum. Educational projects are also being developed and enhanced to keep track to the latest trend in microscopy. Electron microscopes play a vital role in these goals since these microscopes are the main tool in these undertakings.
There are service facilities which provide assistance and microscopy equipments to research community. Medical School Electron Microscope Facility located in Wisconsin is an example of this service facility. They provide support for the needs in industry research. It is actually a multi user lab which is inclined to biomedical specimens and different non biological samples. It also offers equipments such as electron microscope for consultation and other work related to microanalysis and microscopy.
The Sussex Centre for Advanced Microscopy is a useful educational site designed for students and staff of different Universities. This site contains images and examples of electron microscopes. It also offers extensive information regarding the applications and methodologies of electron microscopes for research in the School of Life Sciences.
Aside from school settings, there is also a specific educational project that uses scanning electron microscope - the Bugscope, an outreach educational program which cover K-12 classrooms. Bugscope provides resources for students to be able to remotely operate the electron microscope thus imaging bugs at high magnification. The scanning electron microscope has a remote control connected to the internet through web browser.
Bugscope project also offers the state of the art electron microscopes for teachers so that they can readily integrate the activities to classroom works. Every classroom has an ownership of this project. Each classroom provides their own bugs that will be imaged; they also design their own experiments. Bugscope project is primarily designed for K-12 classrooms; there are no fees in joining this project.
Teaching science through textbooks is very useful but application is also important. It is quite inspiring that local firms are willing to give electron microscopes to certain schools’ science laboratories. Because of this effort, students will not be confided only with the descriptions of certain specimens and images that will be seen through microscopes. Seeing electron microscopes in schools can be overwhelming to students, much more using it. Having to utilize these sophisticated equipments is an incredible experience that most students will treasure.
