About SOAR

Program Goals

The main goals of LSU’s Scope-On-A-Rope Program are to provide hand-held microscopes for educational use through a statewide lending program, and to collaborate with other educational institutions around the country. 

Since many schools do not have their own Scope-On-A-Rope units, the lending program allows all schools the equal opportunity to use the best in educational technology. Over 95% of the 362 teachers who completed evaluation forms have reported that the SOAR helped their students to better understand the concepts being taught, to get excited about science, and to become motivated to learn. At least 92% of teachers also found that the SOAR helped them to illustrate difficult concepts and to improve their lesson activities; 98% of teachers report that it is easy to incorporate the SOAR into their lesson plans. Click here to learn more about the Lending Program and to see the list of Current Lending Sites.

LSU’s SOAR Program actively collaborates with educational institutions throughout the country to bring this technology to schools and teachers outside of Louisiana. Current partners include Furman University in South Carolina, Central Arkansas University, and University of Rochester in New York. 

History of the SOAR program

The SOAR Program at LSU started more than twenty years ago with the first educational applications for video microscopes through an EPSCoR grant from NSF. Through nearly two decades of funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, LSU’s SOAR Program continues to educate, engage, and amaze educators and students around the world. In the past decade, over 2,500 teachers have participated in professional development workshops and over 75,000 PreK-16 students have been impacted!