Just how fast does bacteria grow? Over the course of three lessons, pupils investigate exponential growth with the use of bacteria growth. During the lesson, bacteria from a cell phone is grown to make a connection to real life. Using graphing calculators, learners plot scatter plots of bacteria colonies and find the equation of best fit for the curves. 

Concepts

exponential equations, exponential functions, exponential expressions, exponential growth, exponential models, exponential regression, bacteria

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Work with the biology teacher to teach about bacteria concepts at the same time
• If the class is not familiar with the technology used, spend an extra day to catch them up

Classroom Considerations

• The lesson uses TI-Nspire calculators, but modifications work for other calculators

Pros

• Contains answer keys for easy grading
• Includes prior knowledge assumptions

Cons

• None

Common Core

MP5 MP6 MP7 HSF-IF.C.7.e HSF-LE.A.1.c HSF-LE.B.5 HSS-ID.B.6.a