Topic: Microscopes made from bamboo bring biology into focus

[Nemesis]

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In a remote village in eastern India, dozens of underprivileged children are for the first time marveling at the elaborate details of flower petals with the help of a microscope—made out of bamboo.

Fitted with a times20 lens, the light, compact and ecofriendly microscope is proving a boon for dozens of cash-strapped schools, granting students firsthand access to an otherwise unaffordable scientific tool.

This nifty device is a product of the creative minds at Jodo Gyan, a small nonprofit in New Delhi. "Indian children are not getting to experience all the joy and wonder of science because there is too much emphasis on the memorization and repetition of concepts," says Usha Menon, a government researcher who founded Jodo Gyan in 1999. "Hundreds of thousands of children are learning without understanding anything.

I've long thought that the Open Source software concepts should be extended to school text books, this is conceptually similar and I think that it would be a good idea for our schools. 

I know that the high schools that I went to had wood and metal working shops that could build quite elegant and refined equipment if put to that job.  The science classes and drafting classes could handle design work.  Colleges and Universities should be able to design and build even more sophisticated equipment.

Imagine not only the savings in cash but the learning experiences for the students.  Students designing and building various equipment that is usable by the school itself.  Each year either building new copies or refining old designs as successive classes of students recognize flaws or opportunities to improve on the design.

[jualdeaux]

I like that idea. But then that would mean the schools would have to actually have knowledgeable and capable teachers and would actually have to teach the students instead of jut babysitting them for half a day.

[Nemesis]

Fortunately those teachers exist. 

I think that such projects would engage the students interest and make them behave without coercion.  I also think that if such projects were begun and the students began to be involved and enthusiastic some of the formerly good teachers would be rejuvenated.  Learn by doing rather than by rote can be a powerful force.