Formicarium Deaths = Foldscope Slide Lesson
May 11, 2026 • 10:15 PM UTC
United States
140x Magnification
Insects and Arachnids
Dawn Schulte
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I was planning on starting a unit on microorganisms using the Foldscope with fifth grade. However, the ant keepers reported that we had at least 9 - 12 ants die in our classroom formicarium over the weekend. The students wanted to know what happened and wanted to see if there was anything wrong with the ants. So, I taught them how to mount the ants on Foldscope slides. We labeled the slides with the ant species, body parts, and date. Then we utilized the Foldscopes to see the ants up close. The students were so engaged and excited that I forgot to take pictures of the students making the slides. Although we couldn't determine the cause of death from the Foldscope, we could see the physical adaptations of ants very well. So, we segued into our physical adaptations unit. The students used the slides to help them construct an accurate model of an ant. The model was then used with the Chatterpix app to report information about specific adaptations relevant to our ants.
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