I gave a Foldscope workshop to a class of secondary school students at the Mokengeli School in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These were the first kids in Congo to have access to the little paper wonders.

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 <img alt="Kinshasa-Foldscope_3 Girls" class="wp-image-176174 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="176174" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"7.1","credit":"","camera":"ILCE-7RM2","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1568198121","copyright":"","focal_length":"24","iso":"2500","shutter_speed":"0.005","title":"","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="Kinshasa-Foldscope_3 Girls" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_176173/Kinshasa-Foldscope_3-Girls.jpg"/>
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 The biology class had some 40 kids — so it was not fast, nor easy!

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 <img alt="FoldscopeKin1" class="wp-image-176175 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="176175" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="FoldscopeKin1" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_176173/FoldscopeKin1.jpg"/>
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 Their biology teacher helped to translate some of the instructions, but I did my best in my rusty French.

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 <img alt="FoldscopeKin3" class="wp-image-176176 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="176176" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="FoldscopeKin3" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_176173/FoldscopeKin3.jpg"/>
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 Several lessons learned: Next time pick something easier to see move around than a blade of grass. The kids could see the green, but without mobile phones to really zoom in, it was just a big splotch of green. Still, they seemed excited about just seeing that!

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 <img alt="FoldscopeKin2" class="wp-image-176177 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="176177" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1568289243","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"20","shutter_speed":"0.00085397096498719","title":"","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="FoldscopeKin2" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_176173/FoldscopeKin2.jpg"/>
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 Their teacher promised to continue working with the kids and to upload their findings here.

Foldscopes Kinshasa

bethduffbrown

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