From November 2nd to November 5th, Hitachi High-Tech Singapore, Hitachi High-Tech and Hitachi Asia collaborated for a series of STEM support outreach classes at Holy Innocents Primary School in Singapore. Five 1-hour lessons were held over three days and in total, 189 Primary Six students, average age of 12-year old, were able to take part. Each session consisted of a 20-minute interactive presentation, followed by a 15 minute demo session and a quiz to conclude.

The objective of the lesson was to demonstrate how an electron microscope is used to look at things which the human eye cannot normally see and to discover the hidden micro-world. Students learned about biomimetics, how understanding the mechanisms and structures in nature can lead to the development of new technologies and products to improve society.

This class was held entirely remotely, each student connected with their own computer from the classroom. Although there was no physical microscope in classroom, the students were still able to have fun in these sessions. Using the chat function, the students could send lively comments, questions and requests during the live demo of a TM4000 Tabletop Microscope based in Tokyo.

Feedback from the school was very positive. After the session, some of the students remarked that they wished the session were longer so they could look at many different samples. Teachers also hoped that the students would be able to control the microscope themselves in a future session. We will continue to research better ways of conducting online and in-person lessons in the future.

Students connected to the online lesson using individual computers

An ant’s eye is revealed in high detail during the TM4000 Demo