Engaging the young in Microscopy

ENGAGING THE YOUNG
(Is it possible?)
by Mol Smith

I think most of us older amateur microscopists have come to believe it is almost impossible to engage the young with practicing amateur microscopy as a hobby. It is quite understandable why. When one is older, the world we just lived through has provided many of us with an attitude (certainly one I have) that the world moves through an eternal quest to sensationalize the trivial and meaningless eye-grabbing 'stuff' that young minds become mesmerised by. Were you not as guilty and as gullible when you were young? I was! I loved my comics more than I loved my school. The world of humans often seemed brutal and rough not only at the edges, but at its core. I believe I only managed some insight into where I was existing in and why it was I was very much not in the 'sway' of the expected normal trend to grip the world was simply that I had a mind to consider it. I think I probably learnt, in my early years , more knowledge, or the first glimpses of it, from fiction rather than in the classroom so filled with many disruptive youngsters.

It was in later life I discovered nature, biology and the natural world around me: a fundamental aspect of all of life and how this planet actually gives us a home. It is even worse now for young people, pre-teens, to even begin to understand what I and most probably you too have come to understand.

How do you turn their eye? How do you sow the seed of wisdom without preaching to deaf ears and blind eyes. Senses blinded by the spectacular. The young now, just as I once was, have little understanding of the mechanics of their natural world, and how the basic processes and tiny living forms are the real life-builders: not Google, Amazon, YouTube, Netflix, and Social web sites. These huge collectors of wealth only exist on the backs of everything they regard as below them: the pollinators, the earth miners, the humble waste-clearers. Not just the human ones, but the tiny, living ones.

So, for better or for worse, I thought I would have a stab at doing something about that in my own small way. I thought I would create a series of books using contemporary methods to engage the young. How does one do that?

With Dot!

And I thought if I introduce you to her, you might help spread the word about her and support the idea?

I-SPY WITH MY LITTLE DOT

"BOOKS, WEB SUPPORT, POSTERS, FREE GIFTS, ANIMATIONS, & MOVIES, KNOWLEDGE!"

A 3D virtual character with very loveable traits.	Tuition on how to explore the small scale world.

Exotic Locations / Encounters with macro and micro living forms

Free Poster Downloads - A4 & USA Letter-size	1 book published every 2 months
	Book 1 out now! Book 1 - Where Dot introduces the reader to microscopes, magnifying glasses, Honey bees, Hornets, Ants, Flower pollen, and producing honey.
Aims I-Spy With My Little Dot is a bold and fresh attempt at attracting pre-teenagers into the study of the very small scale world. Proceeds from the book are used to help finance the continued presence of Micscape Magazine and Microscopy-UK as an important free Internet resource. The books will be purchasable worldwide via Amazon books and directly from Microscopy-UK* [for UK buyers only]. Issues bought from Microscopy-UK will include free gifts: large wall posters, magnifiers, microscope slides, jig-saws, games. Unfortunately these offers are not available to non-UK readers due to additional postal costs and increased complications sending packages outside of the UK.	Book 2 in September Book 2 - Where Dot takes the reader on a Garden Safari and encounters, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Bumble bees, Butterflies, and narrowly escapes drowning in the garden pond!
Free 4x Magnifier in Book 1
FREE WEB SITE AND SUPPORT AREA With animations, movies, posters, links,images and additional resources for each book Open now at www.i-spy.org.uk
HOW YOU CAN HELP YOUNG PEOPLE GET INVOLVED WITH THEIR NATURAL WORLD?
I'm sure, like me, most visitors to Micscape Magazine can see how the current trend in the world is to more engage young minds in buying trinkets, electronic devices or simply diverting their attention away from the wondrous world we live in. Most of us have children or grand-children of our own, and without doubt you will have tried to encourage them into looking at the tiny things which fascinate you? Often, our greater years and our slowly acquired wisdom make us unlikely teachers. Dot can fill the gap. She can connect with young children in ways we can't. Through her, and the exciting adventures she brings to life, it is far more likely increased numbers of young folk will become interested in a hobby we all currently share. I do hope so.

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Published in the July 2020 edition of Micscape.

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