Why you should not show prepared slides to beginners and children 🔬

Commercial permanent slides might not be the best way to get people interested in microscopy, I recently found out.
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#microbehunter #amateurmicroscopy #microscope

[@lifeliveit2961]

I am a nurse. During my college days my favorite subject was microbiology. During highschool it was biology. For Christmas I will gift my self a microscope. I think I will buy myself a stereo microscope first to keep my curiosity and learn more.❤️❤️❤️

[@RahulKumar-pr2lr]

Hey I am also a nurse and love microbiology

[@TKC_]

I had a small box of prepared slides as a child and it sparked my interest. I am sure it depends on the person. If a guest to my home sees my microscope I like to just take a pipette and draw a little water out of the flower arrangement on the kitchen table and show all the cilliates they have been sitting next to.

[@rick6429]

Yes the last thing you said is correct. We called them dissecting microscopes and they were used for viewing mainly live cultures. The light scopes used mainly for c.s. And l.s. Slides. Viewing living Protozoa and algae etc. is by far the most interesting. The dissecting scopes allow jars with cultures of living things to be viewed.

[@davewinch7677]

When looking at live specimens, a person gets a better understanding of just how small these things really are, also, live action is always better.

[@RobertB168]

My five year old grandson loves looking at 'blobby things' (ciliates), and when I took him to a local museum he recognised photos of some of them in one of the displays.

[@bonbonpony]

Wow, this is so true! These still images really doesn't look that much different from what you can see through a kaleidoscope! (And even in the kaleidoscope, the colorful pieces can move as well.) Here it's just static blobs of color. It's like watching an abstract wallpaper instead of all the wonders of microscopic life (which is all about the movements of those little guys and how they interact.)

[@jeremycrochtiere6317]

I remember being 7 years old and getting my first microscope, I recognized from a young age that things didn't look the same. It really matters the ability for an individual to critically think and use reasoning skills, because even uninformed and uneducated adults often make this erroneous comparison.

[@robertmudry4242]

I have an (artificial) pond in my backyard, so I can whip up a couple fresh slides which are guaranteed to make the uninitiated absolutely terrified of going near water. 😅

[@-Tholos-]

I recently bought a microscope and had a similar experience with prepared slides. After a while it's like, sure this is interesting but what is it. There is a label that has a name on it but that's it. It would be great if there was a book that came with say a box of 50 slides that describes them in more detail.

[@saal0]

I totally agree. The slides were super useful for seeing things we learned at that moment in school. Like when we learned about the digestive tract and intestines, seeing the microvilli was very interesting! Or learning about the different types of cells.

[@GHOOGLEMALE]

Couldn't agree more - I have just purchased a small microscope for my Grandson and viewed for myself the prepared slides, and also was thinking he would look at a couple of images and then run off to play with something more interesting - so set about looking on youtube as to how to prepare some slides with bugs in, and here I am - Excellent piece. I did not realise that you could not see anything that light could not pass through so very interested in the stereoscopic scopes you mention. Thanks for the info, off to look at your water slides and a pipette to my pond...

[@msgucci6634]

T

[@Chrazzari]

I have zero understanding of biology but you've nailed it. I think there's a lot for me to learn in this with my area. You've gotta cater to your audience and I definitely should work on that.

[@phi1688]

You should try to at least dabble a bit in the subject! It really is fascinating

[@jameshicks7125]

House Fly Leg is pretty exciting for a kid.

[@AmplifyLearning]

You are doing really good work Sir. Huge respect for you!

[@jeremycrochtiere6317]

It really has to do with Teaching Style, I failed chemistry in school despised it. Years later as an adult I attended an M.I.T opencoureware on Solid State Chemistry, And an introduction to biochemistry. The professors made the material relatable to everyday life, and made a curriculum that would fascinate, and stimulate further curiosity. Through the course I developed a great love for organic chemistry and biochemistry.. Similar things happen with advanced concepts when it comes to younger children, that's why it's important to help with analogies they can relate to at their current age.

[@KingLoopie1]

Good point about the stereo microscope! I never had one or even remember looking through one until I purchased one from cloudy nights classified ads. (astronomy site). I have to say the first rock with some small crystal pocket structure under that microscope about knocked my socks off! I'm pretty much a gear junkie and I enjoy any type of optics but this thing really let's my mind comprehend what I'm seeing. 👍

[@SuperRealityKid]

Very good point. I have just bought a Celestron with an lcd screen for my 7 years old twin boys and I agree with the possibility of them becoming bored with ready made slides. I am making a video for them about the basic operation but will look at methods for preparing their own slides of things they discover in the woods or around the home. Thanks.

[@julescircuits845]

I was given a microscope set as a kid, a compound microscope for young children, in a polystyrene box with insect wing slides and whatnot. Now here I am at 40 using a decent microscope in my mycology! slight warning about "SOME" children...Kids can understand a lot more than we give credit for :) It also leads to great trouble at times🤣

[@chinesecabbagefarmer]

Good video! This makes a lot of sense.

[@glenwardgross366]

Great... I always love the slides that had movement. I all most 60 and someone gave me a Smithsonian MS that has never been out of the box. Just found it a few days ago in a tote in the garage. I do not know what kind it is at the moment. I don't know nothing about them. I like the stereo MS idea. You are looking at a high resolution like the strawberry but you still know it is a strawberry. If I want to look at my finger prints then I can. I think the SMS would be a great beginning for anybody of any age. Looks like a lot of great fun for everyone. Thank you so much for you channel. Send me some tips. I will have fun. (PS) I'd like to know why bees are dying? They are so important to us globally.

[@wulfslaed]

Great Insight on this. I am not biologically trained. I came across your channel while researching stereo microscopes to use for watch repair. Just before this video, I watched your video where you took a moldy cup from the refrigerator and looked at mold spores and the fuzzy mold. I found that very interesting because you took samples from the cup and made your slide. Doing that helped my understanding of what you were showing under the scope.

[@fredashay]

That's good advice. A compound microscope requires a fair bit of technical knowledge and skill to use in order to set the multitude of knobs and switches to see anything, and then most samples will be static images of cells and whatnot. Whereas a stereo microscope lets someone put an object under it, even live specimens, that you can look at without a lot of fiddling with controls.

[@ixamraxi]

I would argue that the problem is not prepared slides, but rather which ones you showed them. You have to start at the top and work your way down, you can't be fascinated with the inner structure of complex cells until after you appreciate cells. Instead, tell them some insect wings are actually hairy, and then show them an insect wing under the microscope. Tell them about how everything that's alive is made up of cells, then show them an onion skin, tell them how spiky insect legs are and then show them an actual insect leg. Fascination starts with viewing things broadly, and then narrowing that vision, not always the other way around.

[@sonianunez-gibbs9729]

Thank you for explaining this. As a mother, I was gifted a microscope to give her and of course I want to run out and gove her slides. Bit as an educator, what you’re saying makes perfect sense. In pedagogy, you are saying the prepped cross sections turn into a didactic “lecture” essentially rather than a process of inquiry. I quiry is actually the best way to spur learning- because it addresses all levels of learning: from knowing to creating. Students who are inspired to research more from this process of inquiry will do so.

[@mementovivere2]

Useful teaching advice

[@tubamaxima187]

My experience is that children or beginners want to see closeups of insect parts, compound eyes, bee stings. mosquito biting parts and housefly wings and mouthparts. Looking at stained slides of differernt tissues is only interesting to pathologists looking for morphological changes. Low power Stereo Microscopes are the best for children and beginners.

[@KatieDeGo]

I got my first microscope at age 8. I am now working in a medical lab.

[@christophermclaughlin8899]

I don’t know…I was given a cheap microscope when I was about 7, along with a box of prepares slides. I later used my allowance to purchase two boxes of Milben prepared slides (I still have them). I was immediately interested and excited! Now, I can only imagine how much more I could have gotten out of this gift if I’d had someone show me how to prepare slides or properly observe water samples but I think a curious mind is always ready for interesting things, and there is no lack of interesting things to see under a microscope! I think it is just one personality vs another but even the smallest amount of scientific curiosity should be nurtured. Maybe microscopy just isn’t for them. Perhaps they would appreciate bird watching, beetle collecting, horticulture, or astronomy? But I do agree with using magnifying glasses and them maybe stereo microscopes for young kids, but also the usb microscope that you did a video with. I took one to an elementary school and it was quite the hit!

[@natedoggraymond]

I just showed some 2nd graders rotifers, nematodes, and their cheek cells and they LOVED it! 🔬

[@CyBeRTRoNFLuX]

i remember looking at Silverberry Scaly Hair thru a kids microscope when i was about 7 and it was awsome.

[@Paddyhaughey]

Thank you so much

[@CookingWithCows]

I think maybe for small children a more macro-micoscopic view is more interesting. Things that are hard to see with the eye, but not zoomed down to the microbe level. Just a mild magnification but scaled up on a big monitor could be cool for a starter.

[@cheeseburgero1]

5:19 get em outside 100%

[@yourgodsisspeakingtoyouher4284]

Can Botulism on a microscope slide be dangerous if “reconstituted.” Thank you for your expertise.

[@danlightened]

I don't get how people don't find seeing never before microscopic details of everyday things amusing! Even if they may not know xylem, phloem etc. Also, we can explain it to them that that's how water etc is supplied in plants. It may not be happening live but they can certainly appreciate the awesome system.

[@glenwardgross366]

If you have a moment can you tell me about the different types of slides? Watched a short about water based slides. I am ignorant about this subject, but I got a brain, common sense, and understand principles plus applications.

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

Permanent slides: those that can be stored for a long time (even 100+ years).. Specimen is dry, preserved. of course dead, no movement visible. sometimes stained to increase contrast. Temporary slide: use (in most cases) water as a mounting medium. Organisms are often alive, movement visible, but slide can not be stored. Staining difficult as the chemical stain might kill the organisms, but live staining under some cicrumstances (low concentration of stain) might be possible.

[@xydentmerjregis6513]

How can I recover a prepared glass slide I broke? Please help

[@BritishBeachcomber]

The best magnification for beginners is the lowest. 4x10 is perfect.

[@AussyCC]

Good point mate, living slides keep the untrained very interested.

[@Si-Al-Ti]

A strand of hair, grains of salt/sugar or a tiny clipping of a nail could be interesting enough. Shooting for “simple” objects that the child has an everyday connection with is the way to go in my opinion. Perhaps even a streak of moms lipstick/makeup could be interesting.

[@nottyboi1349]

Sir, I quite do not believe what you are saying. Probably you might be mentioning that cheap companies' slides don't have good staining or good sectioning. But I got prepared slides from Carolina Biologicals damn good!😍 They were so illustrious and attractive! They might inspire me to do my own sections!!

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

For a 6 years old, I totally understand and agree. Live specimens from the garden, insect, plants, sand, finger/nail, hair, etc) on a stereomicroscope would be way better. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, A grown adult that pretend that they all "look the same" is a sign of failure in our education system.

[@Video_Montage15]

I am 14 years old can I see it ?

[@Aui_stormchaser]

What if I’m a smart child 🤔

[@ladmad9196]

Arent stereo scopes more robust as well? i cant imagine letting a child touch an actual microscope of me haha

[@deltalima6703]

Nope, about the same except 'crashing' the high power objective and breaking the slide should not happen with a stereo. I would say get a $300 "made in china" quality microscope (not a toy) and then dont worry about it. Think of it as an iPad. They might break it, but whatever, with potential reward comes some risk.

[@ladmad9196]

@@deltalima6703 i have a 3k € scope, thats why

[@ladmad9196]

@@NerdyNEET actually not. there are differnces worth the money

[@Beatsy]

Unless you naturally *seek* interest in the mundane (i.e. things that "look the same"), then microscopy probably isn't for you anyway - IMO. Being an old cynic, I say most people are too lazy to persistently aim to master techniques and then actively seek more info on what they see. These days, if it doesn't wow on sight, with no effort required, then it's usually deemed boring...

[@TheDjtricks]

🎶

[@nathnolt]

Or give them a USB microscope. It's more accessible to get into

[@christophermclaughlin8899]

But I wish the one I found worked with Apple! How easy it would be to plug in to an iPhone or iPad rather than a laptop.

[@TheDjtricks]

🎼🎶😂

[@TheDjtricks]

😂🎶

[@chrisayad0]

geta tiny micro gameboy the kidslloveit

[@deltalima6703]

I am guessing "too educational and boring" will reply after watching. :)

[@deltalima6703]

Oliver was scared to say "boring" but that is exactly what he was saying, lol.

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

Yes! :-)

[@lifeliveit2961]

@@MicrobehunterMicroscopy 😊

[@billno7867]

Don't show insects because children get scared is mu advice

[@poopandfartjokes]

My prepared slides are boring you?! Here, let’s have a look at your drinking water. Mwahahahaha! 😈

[@TheDjtricks]

🎶