Do you require a certain type of microscope for teaching purposes? If so you need to first know all your possible options so you can determine whether or not the particular type of teaching microscope presented to you fits your requirements perfectly. Learn all about the different types of teaching microscopes through the article below.

If you need to acquire a special type of microscope for teaching purposes, you have at least five different options. While the standard microscopes can almost do the job, the following specialized teaching microscopes are still the more preferred choices.

Here are the different teaching microscopes you can possibly avail of:

1. Dual View Binocular Compound  Teaching Microscope
These microscopes are equipped with two sets of binocular eye pieces. This microscope allows for at least two people to view the device at the same time, and using both their eyes at that. It also has four magnification systems, courtesy of the four objective lenses that has 4x, 10x, 40x, and 100x magnification powers. When these objectives are used with the 10x binocular eyepiece, the highest magnification power that is achieved is 1000x. Even so, keep in mind that when using the 100x oil immersion lens, special preparation has to be done to it first. This type of a teaching microscope retails for an average of $900 a piece.

2. Triple Viewing Compound Teaching Microscope
If the dual view compound microscope can accommodate two people to view a single sample at a time, the triple viewing compound teaching microscope have room for three people to view a common specimen at the same time. Like the binocular dual view, this one is also equipped with four objective lenses for four levels of magnification. The highest objective, the 100x, is an oil immersion lens. It can only be used if a special type of mineral oil is applied to both the lens and the sample to be viewed. These microscopes are priced $1,000 on the average. Two people viewing the specimen are to use the two monocular eyepiece lenses placed on the two ends of the microscope’s bridge. The third user can use the binocular eyepiece positioned on the center.

3. Five Heads Simultaneous Viewing Teaching Microscope
If the three view teaching microscope doesn’t prove to be enough, then the five heads simultaneous viewing teaching microscope is the better option. With this type of a teaching microscope, five people can view a given sample simultaneously. The center of the microscope is where a single binocular eyepiece and the stage is located. The microscope is equipped with a long bar extending at least one feet on each side. At both the ends of  bar is where the two more binocular eyepieces are attached. The two binocular eyepieces are positioned opposite each other, allowing four people to view the same specimen on both ends. The fifth person can use the center binocular eyepiece. Because this microscope is rather complex, it retails for an average of $2,500.

4. Monocular Dual View Compound Teaching Microscope
If the school you belong to is on the budget and it can’t possibly buy several microscopes priced over a thousand dollars each, then the monocular dual view microscope may just be the solution. This microscope allows for two people to view the device at the same time. Being equipped with monocular eyepieces, students are to view the specimen using one of their eyes only. It has the same features of a regular compound microscope and it is priced at only $185 a piece.

5. Trinocular Compound Teaching Microscopes
If it so happen that you need to reach out to more than five students at a given time, then the best option for you would be a trinocular compound teaching microscope. This microscope has a trinocular head, which means it is a binocular microscope with one additional eyepiece port usually positioned vertically right above the objective lenses. The additional port can be used by another person. But so you can reach out to more students, the additional port is best used to attach a digital camera adaptor to the microscope. The adaptor, in turn, can be connected to an external monitor. So instead of having your students look through the binocular eyepiece lenses, they can simply view the sample from the screen of the monitor attached to it. What is fed into the monitor is exactly the same as what can be viewed through the lenses. A good quality trinocular microscope retails for about $800.

These are your different options when it comes to teaching microscopes. Depending upon the actual use of the device and budget you have for it, you can simply choose from these five options. These are the microscopes that are best used for teaching purposes.