Backyard Bacteria

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...

Students observe the experimental process called bacterial transformation and demonstrate phenotype changes in bacteria that have been transformed with an antibiotic-resistance gene and a metabolic marker. They create a luminescent...

The marine bacteria vibrio harveyi helps with DNA repair in humans. Understanding how to manipulate and genetically mutate this bacteria fascinates researchers. Young scientists observe two different mutations, predict the resulting...

High schoolers are able to name one kind of harmful bacteria and why it hurts us and also name one kind of helpful bacteria and how we use it. They describe the process of growing bacterial cultures in a lab. Students create a reasonable...

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...

After the lab, you'll be able to solve this analogy: Natural selection is to vertical transfer of genes as ___ is to the horizontal transfer of genes. Young biologists conduct an experiment on E. coli bacteria to explore the process of...

Don't let your bacteria go to waste. A tutorial explains how to properly store and maintain bacterial stock cultures. It describes the purpose and preparation of a permanent stock, as well as a working stock for use in experiments.

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...

Middle schoolers explore how sewer systems can contribute to water pollution and perform an experiment to see how well a water purification technique can protect against water-born microbial illnesses. They compare the bacterial growth...

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.