What kinds of microbes live on the floor, trashcan, or back of my hand? In this activity students grow bacteria and fungi in Petri dishes after swabbing a variety of surfaces. Detailed directions are included along with student sheets to capture students' thinking.
Use this to learn and reinforce answers to questions such as:
❑ Microorganisms are everywhere.
❑ Under the right conditions, bacteria multiply over time.
❑ Bacteria can be counted when cultured and allowed to grow colonies.
Once students try this activity, they can capture their observations using the included Lab Notes or probing questions included in the instructions.
Concepts Addressed
♦ How can you count bacteria?
♦ How can you see bacteria without microscope?
♦ Where do bacteria live?
Answer Keys and Teacher Notes address most questions and issues that might arise in this study—you shouldn’t have to do any outside research unless you want to.
Materials Needed cotton swabs, china pencil, prepared dishes of nutrient agar
Prep Time Order and prepare agar
Teaching Time 1 class period to make the swabs and a part of a period a few days later to observe them.
Student Sheets Scaffolded writing prompts & lab reporting
Connect with me… If you have questions or problems, please let me know in the Q&A section and I’ll get back to you asap.
Terms of Use
Copyright © Carolyn Balch. All rights reserved by the author. This product is to be used by the original downloader only. Copying for more than one teacher, classroom, department, school, or school system is prohibited. This product may not be distributed or displayed digitally for public view. Failure to comply is a copyright infringement and a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Clipart and elements found in this PDF are copyrighted and cannot be extracted and used outside of this file without permission or license. Intended for classroom and personal use ONLY.
