What makes high school microscopes special?

This may seem a bit random but as someone who likes Bio, I was wondering what microscopes do they use in high school biology classes, and why they use those in particular? Curious about the specifications and why they're suitable for the high school level. Thanks in advance!

Sure, happy to shed some light on this! High school biology classes generally use bright-field, compound microscopes. Here's why they're selected:

Specifications: Most compound microscopes used in high schools magnify between 40x to 1000x. They have objective lenses (typically 4x, 10x, 40x, and 100x) that magnify the image of the specimen. Working in combination with a 10x eyepiece lens, they can provide significant levels of magnification within this range.

Features: These microscopes have features that are conducive to high school labs. They include a moveable stage to place the slides, fine and coarse focus knobs for adjusting the clarity of the image, and a diaphragm or condenser to control the amount of light on the specimen.

Usage: The main reason for using these types of microscopes in schooling is the type of samples that are typically viewed in biology classes. Students often observe slides of small or thin items like cells, plant sections, and microorganisms - which are best viewed under this form of microscope.

Ease of use: These microscopes are also easy to use and relatively robust, which is a crucial consideration with multiple students using the equipment.

Budget: Compound microscopes are also typically less expensive than other types of microscopes like electron microscopes. Given that schools often need to purchase many of them, the cost is an important factor.

It's important to remember that every school may use slightly different equipment based on resources and specific educational objectives. But generally, compound microscopes are the go-to for high school biology classes.