Helpful Microorganisms

How can you tell if a microorganism is helpful or detrimental to an ecosystem? Learners inspect slides or pictures of microorganisms and record their observations to identify those that are beneficial or harmful. They then pretend to...

Students explore the concept of soil and decomposition. For this soil and decomposition lesson, students investigate bags of soil. Students then learn how  animals and other organisms help in the decomposition process. 

Life science learners need to be able to use a microscope. With this comprehensive resource, they first experience how lenses and magnification work, and then get familiar with using a compound microscope. Tremendous background...

Give your environmental or life science class a splash of aquatic ecosystems information using this presentation. The ten slides introduce viewers to aquatic ecosystems and three prominent microorganisms: hydras, rotifers, and...

Students study how microorganisms can be helpful and harmful. They listen to read alouds about germs and yeast and make bread to visualize how microorganisms can be helpful. They write science journal entries.

Being able to absorb the abilities of other life forms may seem like something taken from a superhero movie, but sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. Join the narrator as he takes viewers back billions of years to investigate how...

Students 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...

Students investigate the characteristics and nature of yeast and molds help to explain how these microorganisms affect food production. They experiment with yeast in sourdough in preparing sourdough pancakes.

Sixth graders observe different microorganisms under the microscope. In this biology lesson, 6th graders draw and describe the samples they see. They study the root nodules of plants and explain how the plants benefit from those bacteria.

Much the chagrin of mothers around the world, germs are everywhere; it's unavoidable. Learn how these microscopic invaders have evolved different ways of spreading from one host to another with this short instructional video.