With audio, video and computer technology peaking, educators are catching on and tapping into the technology which will soon replace the use of traditional microscopes in classrooms everywhere with simpler, more interactive and economical tools.
The Scope On A Rope™ (SOAR), developed by Louisiana State University and sold by School Technology Resources (STR), is the new, high-tech yet simple to use version of that old school microscope. The SOAR is a hand-held, touch & view camera with output to a computer, projector, TV or LCD display that provides educators with the best of old learning concepts and new methods and technology. The SOAR consists of a small, self-lighted video camera with interchangeable magnifying lenses. Each lens has a “contact tip” which operates simply by touching the tip to the sample; a teacher or student automatically sees an in-focus image on a TV or computer.
Instant discoveries are made with the SOAR by holding it and touching it to any sample: the visibly active sweat glands in fingerprints, sophisticated observations of micro-ecosystems in drops of pond water and flower centers, tiny fossils in rocks and sand, form and function in natural and man-made objects of all kinds. The live images are instantly shared with the whole class.
Known for its long lasting durability and high resolution images, the SOAR is the best and most versatile hand-held classroom camera/microscope on the market. It’s a digital camera, a video camera, a document camera, a presentation camera and it does much more than a traditional microscope can do.
The newest Education Kit from STR is used by the Scope On A Rope™ program at Louisiana State University, which has been conducting technology workshops for teachers since 1992. It includes a new XYZ Stage/Stand from STR for easy, fine focusing and positioning of prepared slides and aquatic samples. The Education Kit also includes the STR developed Teacher Resource CD with over 100 correlated lesson plans for K-12 science instruction.
