Buying a high power microscope is an ideal gift for children and teenagers with a definite love for science. It is important, however, to take the time in teaching them how to use a high power microscope and prevent your gift from becoming a waste of money and effort.

Tips for Teaching Kids How to Use a High Power Microscope
Quote Spiderman’s gentle Aunt May this time around when you tell your kids that “great power comes with great responsibilities”. And in this case, a high power microscope is a costly piece of equipment that will let them see “invisible” specimens like bacteria, but it also requires greater care and maintenance from them.

Step 1 Find a well-lit room for your children to use the high power microscope in. Although high power microscopes now come with their own built-in light sources, it would never hurt to have excellent ambient lighting as well. Next, find a large table for your kid to work in. The microscope should always be placed in the middle of the microscope and there should be enough space on both sides for your child to make notes, prepare slides, and perform other related activities.

Step 2 Emphasize the need for the microscope to be switched off before plugging it to the nearest electrical socket. Lines must be carefully bundled and flattened on the ground to prevent accidents that could cause the microscope to topple off from the table.

Step 3 If you haven’t purchased phase contrast lenses or dark field optics for your microscope then you might have to guide them as they learn proper staining techniques to make microscopic samples or specimens visible. Make sure they know how to prepare simple wet and dry mounts as well. Remind your kids not to use a cover slip when the microscope is set at high power. Samples must be secured on the stage with stage clips.

Step 4 Microscopes must be switched on only when they are going to be used. Leaving them on for no purpose is just a plain exercise in wasting electricity. Microscopes must be set at low power when switched on. If not, high power objectives, with their longer tubes, run the risk of getting in contact with a sample if they are already placed on top of the stage. Such an incident could damage your microscope’s objective lenses or the sample itself.

It is also easier and safer to locate a sample through your eyepiece with the microscope set at low power first.

Step 5 Teach them how to use the condenser properly. The condenser is responsible for filtering light passing through the specimen. The aperture iris diaphragm is a part of the condenser and also controllable. It should be closed if and only if glare has been eliminated.

Step 6 Start adjusting the coarse and fine knobs of the high power microscope. Coarse knobs are there to control movement of the stage. Fine knobs are there to improve focus. Readjust your condenser and diaphragm if necessary.

Step 7 Explain to your kids how microscopes work. It’s important that they understand why eyepieces and objective lenses make up the total magnification of a microscope. Secondly, let them know that eyepieces are mostly responsible for magnification while objective lenses are responsible for image resolution.

Step 8 Anything that blocks your vision and not due to the natural state of your sample or specimen is called an artifact. There are many types of artifacts and they can occur at any point in time, before, during, or after you’ve placed your sample on the microscope for observation.

Artifacts include but are not limited to the following: faulty fixation; water, dirt, or bubbles left on a specimen; careless cutting; unbalanced, patchy or faded staining; folds and tears; and shrinkage.

If you cannot remove the artifacts then you’ll have to start over with a new sample.

Step 9 It’s critical to teach your kids as well how to store a high power microscope properly. When they’re done using it, remind them to switch it back to low power before turning it off and unplugging the microscope.

Teach them about daily and weekly cleaning and maintenance routines for the microscope. If possible, purchase a microscope cleaning kit designed for kids. Underline the need to use only cleaning tools and supplies designed specially for microscopes as anything else could damage the microscope’s objective lenses. Lastly, microscopes must be stored in room use.

Now that your children already know how to use a high power microscope, they have the ability to further explore their interests in science and develop keener brains in the bargain.