Our team (two volunteers and the Executive Director of the Foundation) travelled to the city of Puyo- Pastaza, located in the northeast of the country in the geographical area known as the Amazon region. They delivered 21 Foldscopes as part of the project
“Foldscopes: From Southborough to Ecuador” to three schools located in communities of indigenous nationality known as the Quichuas of the Amazon. In this blog, we journal our experience in the journey of magnifying our curiosity with the pocket microscope.
The project and its objectives were again explained to the community authorities. They were able to express their gratitude to FUCOBI and the Rotary Club of Southborough, as well as their interest in supporting the next visit with the logistics to deliver the next batch of foldscopes in the inland communities for which the team will need to travel by canoe for a day.
The workshop was focused on the use of the Foldscope, an innovative paper microscope developed by Manu Prakash and Jim Cybulski at Stanford University, USA. The team introduced the Foldscope and its general use. Also, the team showed how to prepare samples for observation by the Foldscope. Every participant was provided a Foldscope Kit and was guided in its assembly and use. The workshop was attended by 6 natural science, biology and chemistry teachers.
“Foldscopes: From Southborough to Ecuador” to three schools located in communities of indigenous nationality known as the Quichuas of the Amazon. In this blog, we journal our experience in the journey of magnifying our curiosity with the pocket microscope.
The project and its objectives were again explained to the community authorities. They were able to express their gratitude to FUCOBI and the Rotary Club of Southborough, as well as their interest in supporting the next visit with the logistics to deliver the next batch of foldscopes in the inland communities for which the team will need to travel by canoe for a day.
The workshop was focused on the use of the Foldscope, an innovative paper microscope developed by Manu Prakash and Jim Cybulski at Stanford University, USA. The team introduced the Foldscope and its general use. Also, the team showed how to prepare samples for observation by the Foldscope. Every participant was provided a Foldscope Kit and was guided in its assembly and use. The workshop was attended by 6 natural science, biology and chemistry teachers.
Teachers are undoubtedly the de facto resources for most of the child’s intellectual needs. They play a part in shaping the curiosity of the next generation and hence, training them to train the kids is an obvious step. With that in mind, we trained the teachers in Arajuno to use Foldscopes in their biology and environmental science classes. The response was encouraging and the participants recognized how different these classes would be from now on.
We ask about perspective, difficulties, and challenges they could foresee in the active teaching with paper microscopes, to which they expressed their gratitude and excitement for being able to count on this new work tool since they currently do not have a science laboratory. The teachers told us about the challenges they faced since the pandemic and how hard has become to keep the children interested in school, for which they requested us to visit the UEI Rogers Mc Cully school the next day as two biology teachers had not been able to be in the workshop.
We continued our journey to the community of Shiwa Kucha, in which the community leaders, parents, the teacher and students welcomed us in the Guayusupina hut with a dance in honor of the Foundation and the Rotary Club as a token of their appreciation.
We ask about perspective, difficulties, and challenges they could foresee in the active teaching with paper microscopes, to which they expressed their gratitude and excitement for being able to count on this new work tool since they currently do not have a science laboratory. The teachers told us about the challenges they faced since the pandemic and how hard has become to keep the children interested in school, for which they requested us to visit the UEI Rogers Mc Cully school the next day as two biology teachers had not been able to be in the workshop.
We continued our journey to the community of Shiwa Kucha, in which the community leaders, parents, the teacher and students welcomed us in the Guayusupina hut with a dance in honor of the Foundation and the Rotary Club as a token of their appreciation.
Given that students indicated that they had not heard of a microscope previously, our introductory workshop involved Foldscope basic concepts and viewing a prepared sample. Students, parents, and teacher were excited to practice with the foldscopes, so they collected: fleas, flies, samples of stagnant water from a trout farm, among others. It is worth mentioning that this practice lasted almost three hours since they did not want to stop looking for samples to study in the foldscopes. The next day, we went to the UEI Rogers Mc. Cully and did a mini workshop with the two biology teachers, as requested.
We enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the students and hope their Foldscope experience will contribute in some way to increasing their interest in science and raising awareness about the issue of plastics and pollutants in their communities.
We would like to thank Liz Kaprielian and Dra. Acacia Warren of the Rotary Club of Southborough, Massachusetts, USA and Rotary Club of Ambato, who made this amazing donation possible. Also, we would like to thank Gregorio Calapucha for all his support on the logistical aspect and the authorities of Arajuno and Shiwakucha for helping us every step of the way.
We enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the students and hope their Foldscope experience will contribute in some way to increasing their interest in science and raising awareness about the issue of plastics and pollutants in their communities.
We would like to thank Liz Kaprielian and Dra. Acacia Warren of the Rotary Club of Southborough, Massachusetts, USA and Rotary Club of Ambato, who made this amazing donation possible. Also, we would like to thank Gregorio Calapucha for all his support on the logistical aspect and the authorities of Arajuno and Shiwakucha for helping us every step of the way.