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Unit Plan
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Curated OER

The Science of Microbes

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Looking for an interesting text to share the world of microbes with your middle school classroom? The edition contains explanations, worksheets, experiments, discussions, and links to outside sources for a true and complete microbiology...
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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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Interactive
Learning Games Lab

Bacteria Sampling

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Scholars explore the procedure for bacteria sampling in a virtual lab by first walking through a detailed step-by-step procedure of preparing the samples of raw milk and pasteurized milk, growing the bacteria, and comparing results....
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Interactive
Learning Games Lab

Gram Staining

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Scholars use a lab simulation to test contaminated yogurt for bacteria by gram staining. They learn proper lab procedures for handling bacteria and for sterilizing equipment, and then walk through the process on their own to try gram...
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Interactive
Learning Games Lab

Controlling Water Activity in Food

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Food storage matters! Scholars learn how the amount of water in corn can affect its rate of spoilage. They create a control group, then test three corn samples stored in three different locations for water activity. As a result of the...
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Interactive
Learning Games Lab

How to Use Oil Immersion Microscope

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Teach the class how to use a microscope to identify bacteria in food. Scholars explore the different parts of the microscope and learn how to determine total magnification. They walk step-by-step through the procedure of preparing slides...
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Interactive
Learning Games Lab

Testing and Adjusting pH

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Pupils learn how to control food spoilage by adjusting the food's pH. They see that one of the most dangerous bacteria can grow in food if people don't handle and store food properly. Using knowledge of the bacteria's preferred pH,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Viewing Bacteria

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Have you ever wanted to know the true structure of E.coli? Does the thought of peering into its "small world" sound exciting? Here is a lesson that allows pupils the ability to do just that. Blossoming microbiologists use microscopes to...
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Lesson Plan
Nuffield Foundation

Working with Immobilized Enzymes or Microscopic Organisms

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Let the lab be a catalyst to learn about enzymes. Scholars create alginate beads filled with yeast. As part of an investigation into enzymes, they see how these beads provide a catalyst to the reaction of glucose into ethanol.
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Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Winogradsky Columns: Microbial Ecology in the Classroom

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Substances that decompose with the help of living organisms do so at different rates. Scholars experiment with Winogradsky columns to determine the rate of decomposition, the oxygen and sulfide content changes, and bacteria levels. The...
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Activity
Nuffield Foundation

Digestion of Starch: Microbes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Sugar isn't good for you, but it's great for microbes. A simple experiment has pupils investigate the digestion of starch by microbes to produce sugars. They apply two bacterial cultures, an amylase solution, and distilled water on a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hazards of Defrosted Food

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Peas spoilage hot, peas spoilage cold: examine the bacterial growth on newly defrosted peas versus peas that have been defrosted for 24 hours. Using the session one questions in the "Microbes and Food Spoilage" PDF, learners will make...
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Lesson Plan
Nuffield Foundation

Digestion of Protein: Microbes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Milk the resource for all it's worth. Young biologists perform assay techniques to test the digestion of protein. They place bacterial samples, fungal samples, trypsin solution, and distilled water on a milk-agar plate to see the effects...
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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
Nuffield Foundation

How Good is Your Toilet Paper?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
You'll never forget the importance of toilet paper and hand washing ever again. Scholars perform an experiment to model the transfer of microbes in the bathroom. They perform three trials to test the transmission of yeast using their...
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Lesson Plan
Nuffield Foundation

Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria in Root Nodules of Leguminous Plants

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Fixin' to add a great resource to your plans? Scholars perform an experiment to investigate nitrogen-fixing bacteria from plant roots. Along the way, they learn about the concepts of symbiosis and mutualism.
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Lesson Plan
Nuffield Foundation

Investigating Anti-Microbial Action

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Join the fight against bacteria. An open investigation shows pupils different aspects of antimicrobial substances, such as disinfectants, deodorants, or plant oils. They design and conduct their own experiments on the effectiveness of...
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Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Winogradsky Columns: Microbial Ecology in the Classroom

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Winogradsky columns are ideal for observing the role of bacteria and other microorganisms in an ecosystem. This student activity guide is complete with data tables for observations and analysis questions for processing what was observed....
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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
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

The Effects of Colloidal Silver on Microbial Growth: Investigating Snake Oil Science

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Can your classes solve the problem of the smelly sweat sock? Young scientists complete a lab investigation that begins by using electrochemistry to generate colloidal silver. They use their solutions to test the rate of microbial growth...
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Unit Plan
Kenan Fellows

Unit 2: DNA Analysis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Ever wonder how they solve those mysterious murders in TV crime dramas? The second of four units in a Biotechnology series introduces scholars to the many methods of DNA analysis. Pupils create and run their own gel electrophoresis...

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