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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Level III: Technology Integration

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders prepare two spreadsheets each with an embedded line graph that displays data about the growth of the bitter rot fungus on apples and on petri dishes that were stored in the refrigerator and the classroom. They prepare a...
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Lab Resource
Nuffield Foundation

Making Up Nutrient Agars

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A resource rich in information—and nutrients. Learners create agars for the purpose of cell cultivation in Petri dishes. The lesson provides instructions on how to create agars for the cultivation of different microorganisms.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Bacteria Lab I: Preparing Agar Plates and Culturing Bacteria

For Students 9th - 12th
Bacteriologists prepare their own agar plates and culture bacteria on them. The procedures for both tasks are delineated, and questions are posed, but no materials list is printed. Also, the exact amounts of water and nutrient agar are...
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Activity
Exploratorium

Salty Pits

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Yuck, does my deodorant kill that? To test whether deodorant is anti-bacterial, class members use petri dishes to grow control bacteria and bacteria from sweat, and then compare them to see if deodorant effects the growth. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bacteria's Role in Food

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Young scholars grow bacteria cultures on agar in petri dishes and do a plate count. They participate in a yogurt making lab to see how bacteria produce lactic acid. They prepare a recipe and identify fungi, fermentation and the role of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Activity 2: How Do You Get Your Energy?

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students receive informational handouts about photosynthesis, chemosynthesis and tubeworms (included with the lesson). Using the "Bacteriology Experiment Plan" handout, students compare the amount of bacteria found in two locations. They...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Factors Which Affect Corrosion

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the factors which affect corrosion. For this corrosion lesson plan, students experiment with 2 nails, copper wire and magnesium ribbon placed in a petri dish of agar solution, potassium ferricyanate and an indicator....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Life Traps

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Learners participate in a lab activity in which they collect microbes on an agar plate. After discussing microbes and where they might be found, they trap microbes in the Petri dishes following specific guidelines. They observe any...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Predicting the Growth of Microorganisms

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students determine where microorganisms might be found around their school. In this scientific investigation lesson, students collect cultures from various locations and place these in petri dishes. They incubate the cultures to see if...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Spud Smear

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Learners study various samples of microorganisms in petri dishes. In this microorganism lesson, students place various samples of items in petri dishes and observe them after several days of incubation.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bacteria: The good, the bad, the ugly

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders conduct an experiment.  In this bacteria lesson plan, 7th graders list living and nonliving things and brainstorm the characteristics they share.  Students are divided into two groups where they put samples of hand soap...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

DEMONSTRATING AN EPIDEMIC

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students experience a small scale "epidemic," demonstrating the ease with which disease organisms are spread, and enables the student to determine the originator of the "epidemic." They transfer live bacteria by hand contact, then...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Bacteria Lab II: Effect of Bacteriocides

For Students 9th - 12th
Written to follow "Bacteria Lab I: Preparing Agar Plates and Culturing Bacteria," also found via the Lesson Planet site, this lab sheet instructs your microbiologists to test a bacteriocide for effectiveness. In the preceding lab, they...
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Activity
Nuffield Foundation

Making a Streak Plate

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Cultivate bacteria with a straightforward lesson featuring agar. Scholars create a streak plate on agar to ideally create colonies of bacteria or yeast that are growing separately from each other. The resource introduces the simplest...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dirt Life

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students select and collect soil samples from a variety of locations (schoolyard, home, etc.). They do this lab after an interest-generating discussion about "dirt" and microbes. Students make a dilution in sterile water, plate it on a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Backyard Bacteria

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students experiment with different bacterias that they found and make predictions of their growth.  For this investigative lesson students use petri dishes to grow their bacteria then summarize what has happened. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Science: Conditions for Slime Mold Survival

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students perform experiments to determine the nutritional needs and physical space requirements for slime mold to survive. After formulating hypotheses, they seal the petri dishes and set up the experiment along with two controls. ...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Petri-fied of Bacteria

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine the existence of bacteria all around them and consider the roles, both positive and negative, that bacteria play. Over a period of several days, students conduct an experiment in which they predict, determine, log, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Multiplying Microbes

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders investigate the techniques of culturing bacteria. They culture bacteria using agar plates. Students identify and describe some environmental conditions that effect bacteria growth.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Life Traps - Lesson Plan

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students observe and discuss microbes.  In this microbes instructional activity students complete a lab activity where they grow microbes in petri dishes and discuss their findings. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Diffusion

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Young scholars investigate diffusion using different solutions of chemicals placed in agar dishes. In this diffusion lesson plan, students observe 3 demonstrations of diffusion using perfume, food coloring in water and sugar cubes in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Culturing Plants from Embryonic Plant Tissue

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Student groups use lima beans to represent dicots and corn to represent monocots, soak the seeds, and separate the embryos from the cotyledons. They then place the seeds in Petri dishes in agar and observe for at least one week recording...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Just Because You Cannot See It... Doesn't Mean It's Not There

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discover bacteria which is around them by using agar over three days. For this biology lesson, students predict what they will see over the three days and then take photographs of what is actually shown. Finally, students write...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Active Ingredient Screening Test for Plants

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students determine if various plant materials contain active ingredients which will inhibit the growth of bacteria. They identify plant materials and their degree of sensitivity.