One paper microscope per student project

“One paper microscope per student project”

In Madagascar, Physics and Chemistry high school teachers are struggling to teach their subject due to a lack of educational resources. The number of students pursuing further studies in scientific fields keeps dropping each year. While about 11% of high school students majored in physics, chemistry and natural sciences in the academic year of 2006-2007, the percentage is currently less than 5%, yet the number of students has at least doubled. Scientific subjects become hard to comprehend and do not seem to be exciting or useful to many of the students. The non-profit organization ITATRA, seeks to initiate ways to address this issue through a science outreach tagged “Vision”, by giving the students the opportunities to experience how fun science can be. The “One paper microscope per student project”, alongside the VISION event, aims to help them see, experience and understand the world around us through a lens.

ITATRA is a non-profit organisation based in Madagascar. Our mission is to seek for a better and equal education by providing up-to-date equipment and training to the High School teachers. The organisation was founded in 2021 and was registered under the Malagasy constitution in June this year. As part of our first activity, we will conduct a science outreach named VISION. The first edition of VISION will be run in mid-October this year with the generous education grant from SPIE (spie.org) and collaborations with the open-source company UC2 (You.See.Too) and the Stellenbosch Laser Student Chapter (SLSC) at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. It will take place in three different high schools in Madagascar, and we aim to reach at least 1050 high school students during these events. Examples of activities during the VISION events include scientific demonstrations, quiz contest, game night and video projection of the fauna and flora of Madagascar and a call to action for their protection .

At this stage, we are not in a position to provide any material that a school can own. However, we think that you can help us to provide them materials that are cheap, easy to use, fun, interactive and effective in advancing and facilitating their teaching-learning scheme. A foldscope is a microscope made of paper and low-cost materials that can help to visualize tiny objects such as bacteria, insects, sand particles, and tissues. We believe this first step will help the teachers to explain many of their lectures. We also believe that this can help awaken the curiosity of the students and increase their interests in science in general. To learn more about what a foldscope is, please click here.

Budget:

Number	Items	Cost per item ($)	Sub-total ($)
3	Basic Classroom Kit Bulk Packaging 10-Pack	350	1050
1	Shipping cost and Customs/import fees	500	500
		Total ($)	1550

If you believe in our cause, please support us by contributing to this fundraising campaign. We will be grateful for your support and donations.

Website: www.itatra.org

Contact: [email protected]