On Sunday the MakerBus was honoured to receive a $1000 micro-grant from London SOUP for a new educational initiative we are planning to launch – the One Microscope Per Children project.

With the money we will be developing a system of 3D printing affordable microscope clips that can be used to transform any smart phone, tablet, or laptop into a 100x, 350x, 1000x microscope.

These microscopes will be based upon the model developed by the Pacific Northwest Research Laboratory. By using inexpensive glass beads and 3D printed clips, PNRL developed a system of mass-producing affordable microscopes that cost about $2 per unit to produce.

Our goal is to distribute classroom sets of the microscopes to classrooms throughout the Thames Valley District School Board and the London District Catholic School Board. We’ll be using the funding from London Soup to upgrade our 3D printer inventory and we hope to have working prototypes of the microscopes by the late Spring.

We’re currently working on a redesign of our website (www.makerbus.ca) and the new site will have a page devoted to the One Microscope Per Child project.

If you are interested in supporting this initiative, please contact us (info@dhmakerbus.com). We would love to brainstorm together how we can help more of our community’s children see the world through a new lens.

-The MakerBus team