iPad Innovation

Across the spectrum of Jesuit High School’s academic programs and disciplines, the 1:1 iPad Program has greatly enhanced student learning since its implementation in 2014.

In the science department, teacher Ray Rodriguez '91 has developed an adapter that aligns the microscope lens with the Apple iPad Air camera. The adapter is easily fitted onto the camera side of the iPad, and around the eyepiece of a compound microscope.

Students now can take photos and videos of specimens in the microscope using their iPads, for use in lab reports. The adapter is designed to hold the iPad the precise distance required from the microscope to get a clear image.

The adapters are in regular use in several Jesuit science classes – biology, AP biology, and marine biology all are using them right now – further expanding the iPad’s impact in the classroom. 

Last week, teacher Amy Martin’s freshman biology class used the adapter to capture images on the iPad’s ultra high resolution screen (homepage photo, L-R: Grayson Maddox '19, Nicholas Connor '19, and Thatcher Kelly '19. View the photo slideshow below of the class in action.

The adapter is designed on the iPad by Rodriguez, and then it is “3D printed” by a special device that lays down melted plastic in a certain shape, layer after layer hundreds of times over, until the shape is complete and solidified. The process takes about two hours per adapter.

The adapters are designed for an exact fit with the “bare” iPad, however Rodriguez also is making an adapter to fit the Otterbox cases that most Jesuit students use to protect their iPad.