Workshop to build Foldscope

The students of our School were invited to participate in the workshop Foldscape- paper folding microscope at Birla Vidya Niketan School on 5th May, 2017. Two students, Jatin Rastogi and I accompanied by our teacher, Mr. Pallab Roy, attended the workshop which was held in the Physics lab at the host school.

The proceedings involved participants being made to watch a video on the subject and to then attempt assembling one on our own. All the teams were allotted a coordinator, a student of the school, to help us in the task. The main components of the foldscope are a lens and a magnet. A hole is pierced on the back of the foldscope which enables light to pass. The foldscope is easy to carry while travelling as it is the size of a mobile phone! In fact it is also known as a mobile microscope.

It was a lovely learning experience. We were introduced to the manifold applications of the foldscope in the fields of Science. The host school has lent us the foldscope built for a month to use it to explore, and observe diverse things like pollen grains, live organisms and insects under the lens.

We hope to share what we observed classmates using the specimen we have carried back.

Smita Jha, XII-A.