Photomicroscopy Made Easy by Converting Cell Phones into “CellCams” Available to Purchase

Photo and video microscopy expand the utility of microscopic observations in education, but attachments needed for this have been prohibitively expensive or too fragile to allow students individual access to these techniques. We describe a do-it-yourself method using inexpensive materials that allows students to build an adaptor that will allow them to turn their cell phones into “CellCams” that they can use to capture microscopic images and videos. Activities are presented that give students ways to learn about concepts of microscopy using their self-collected images.