Medical microbiology Lesson Plans

Eighth graders study the physical and functional characteristics of bacteria.  In this microbiology lesson students complete a lab on measuring bacteria growth. 

Students identify on a time line and a world map where medical innovation/inventions line-up and originated. They collect information on various medical innovations/inventions using encyclopedias and medical research texts. Students make inferences about episodes of medical innovations and why they occurred when they occurred.

Students are given a two week period to put to use the knowledge they have gained while studying bacteria. As a culminating activity, students each receive three unknown bacteria to identify.

Eighth graders research changes in medical technology and practice that took place in North Carolina between the years of 1870 and 1930. They also examine the difference between the "Humeral Theory" of disease and the "Germ Theory" of disease and how it may have influenced the way doctors practiced medicine. From their research they present how those changes impacted the lives of people at that time.

Students use their observation and inquiry skills to understand microbes. In this microbiology lesson, students explore slides with a microscope. Students gain experience with preparing slides and proper use of a microscope while exploring bacteria, yeast and paramecia.

Students identify Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria using staining techniques. Students research importance of identification of bacterial types in diagnosing bacterial diseases.

Students research biofilms and create brochures. They role play as advertising firm members assigned to educate the general public about biofilms. They create "wanted dead or alive" posters about harmful and helpful biofilms respectively.

Young scholars examine proposals to combat AIDS, VRSA, and measles and recommend one that they could support. They investigate how people can have very different feelings about such proposals.

Students prepare a wet mount of a blue-green algae. They examin their sample under a microscope and record their observations. Students view prepared slides of several bacteria and record observations. They collect bacterial samples from various locations in the school. Students describe their resoning for selecting their locations. They grow the bacteria in a petri dish and analyze their results.

Twelfth graders work in groups to research a scientist that studied germ theory. They work as a class to build a time line about the development of germ theory. A list of scientists is included in the lesson. Following the research, 12th graders complete a lab where they prepare bacterial cultures, and test cleaning wipes efficiency in killing germs.