The Private Eye - looking closely and thinking by analogy with jeweler's loupes and inquiry method for hands-on interdisciplinary science, art, writing, math, and more








The Private Eye® Loupes: Looking Closely The Private Eye Loupes:
Looking Closely



Student using a jeweler's loupeIn 1989 Kerry Ruef introduced the jeweler's loupe to the world of education.
The Private Eye loupe (the "hardware" of The Private Eye process) is a magical magnification tool that packs a wallop, though it is about the size of a walnut. It makes the world-of-small large, it makes the previously invisible visible. Its secret is that a loupe cuts out the rest of the world, cuts out competing visual distractions, which increases drama, wonder, concentration. Its secret is also that it makes the world slightly strange, fresh. The loupe helps strip a thing of its cliché, its stereotyped image, so that real discovery can begin.

A loupe gives the ordinary person the heightened visual sensitivity of the artist, the writer, the scientist. Close observation - mixed with wonder - is essential for the development of artist, scientist, writer, as well as mathematician, humorist, inventor, and more.
Two 5X jeweler's loupes nested give 10X power
Two loupes nested give 10X magnification

Note: one loupe is 5X, two loupes nested give 10X magnification. (When you nest two loupes, at 10X, you still have a wide field of view,  and you have the same power as most dissecting scopes.) The advantage: these exceptionally clear lenses are inexpensive and each student can work at his/her own desk and can easily take them outside for fieldwork. Try hanging the loupes on a loupe-lanyard around your neck!
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