Use of a 3D-printed smartphone microscope adapter in a general biology lab course

ABSTRACT High school and undergraduate students often use personal cell phones to document experimental data or to capture images of microscopic observations on their phones. We utilized a 3D-printed smartphone mount adapter for microscopes in a predominantly first-year undergraduate general biology classroom. The hands-free mount is low-cost, works with different brands of phones, different kinds of microscopes, and does not damage the phone or microscope. At the start of the semester, a 10-question pre-use survey was conducted using a 4-choice Likert scale ( n = 330). 73% of respondents strongly agreed with wanting to use their personal cell phone to record laboratory experiment data. Over a semester, students used 3D-printed cell phone microscope adapters as a part of four different general biology lab modules. As examples, the adapters were used to take stable microscopic images of pond water, Gram stain results, and live Daphnia pulex organisms to measure heart rate. At the end of the course, students were asked to participate in a post-use survey ( n = 186). Students believe the adapter helped them engage with lab content. The adapter was most often used to visualize microscopic items live and simultaneously with their lab partner. The survey data show that use of a 3D-printed device to hold phones steady on a microscope was viewed positively by students.