Explorer™ Microscope Teaching System

Educators are in need of distance learning tools that provide learning experiences that mirror actual reality. So much of science learning is tied to the practice of lab experimentation. What happens in the lab provides context to the student when learning subjects like meiosis or mitosis. The context is preserved in the Explorer™ system and gives the teacher a new method of lecture, a new theme for home work assignments and a new way to engage and motivate the student. 

Note: In the demo you can view the Live Elodea, Lilly Anther, Intestine with Smooth Muscle, and Cerebellum specimens only.

Designed for:

• Distance learning teachers and administrators
• Classroom lecturers requiring multimedia support tools
• Students seeking to reinforce laboratory learning
• School systems seeking to enhance their biological science curriculum with virtual tools

Significant Features:

• Web-based platform
• Fully simulated experience of using a real microscope
• Focus, slide placement, magnification choice & moving the stage controlled by mouse
• Simple user interface
• Multiple volumes of slides on various subjects
• High quality micrographic images produced with best of class digital equipment
• 5 magnification settings
• 3D rendering of microscope with mouse controlled perspective changes
• Simple authoring tools allow voice over slide development
• Simple authoring tools allow text over slide development
• Slide organization for organized lecture delivery and simulated lab experimentation

Benefits:

• Saves educator time and effort formulating lectures
• Delivers lab experience to distance learning students without requiring on-site visit
• Matches curriculum pace by allowing flexibility of slide viewing and usage
• Enhances student engagement and interest by demonstrating the highest quality images in a fun environment
• Places learning in the context of actual lab experience bringing transference of lab behavior and motor skill development beyond subject matter content derived from the slides
• Highest quality slides increase learning motivation and retention while engaging the student with superior multimedia photography
• Opens administrators to new possibilities in curriculum development and coursework assignments
• Usage of standard web technologies ensures ubiquitous availability to the student population

Three volumes of the Virtual Microscope Explorer currently available are:

	Volume 1: A Closer Look at Life - cultivates appreciation for the cellular basis of plant and animal life.
	Volume 2: The Painted Lady Butterfly Life Cycle - follows the metamorphosis of the butterfly through egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult stages. Beautiful body forms beyond naked-eye perception delight the eyes in this extraordinary collection of images.
	Volume 3: Mitosis and Meiosis - contains specimens of plant and animal cells during the process of cell division, lucidly illustrating chromosome dynamics involved in the processes.