Online testing began in March. So far, schools in California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and the Virgin Islands have applied to use Bugscope. Members of Beckman Institute's Imaging Technology Group made a recently acquired environmental scanning electron microscope available to schools that are accepted into the program. With their computers, users can command the microscope to take specific images of the bugs under study. A scanning electron microscope uses sophisticated technology to examine the three-dimensional structure of surfaces in great detail.
Students can see bug parts that are undetectable to the naked eye.
We also hope it will serve as a model for future outreach efforts. Four high school students at University High School in Urbana, Ill., have been trained to run the microscope. They will prepare specimens and put them in the microscope's viewing chamber. David Stone, an entomologist and teacher at University High School, is the resident bug expert. Faculty and graduate students from the U. of I. entomology department also are resources.