Investigating the Uses of 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 microscopes to...

What better place to begin learning about life than with a up close an personal look at Earth's oldest living organisms; bacteria. Starting with an examination of the different classifications of bacteria, where they live, what they eat,...

Scientists question how the oceans and the atmosphere get along. An installment in a longer science series investigates this relationship and current research exploring the types of materials that oceans release into the atmosphere....

Students demonstrate safe ways to handle bacteria, prepare agar plates, and grow bacterial cultures. They identify different kinds of bacterial colonies, and devise a controlled experiment.

The research being done in the field of synthetic biology holds tremendous possibilities for cancer patients. Here is a short video that details how synthetic biologists are learning how to program bacteria to attack tumors. 

Here is an unusual comparison: the swimming conditions of a sperm cell and a sperm whale. Introduce your physics class to the Reynolds number by sharing this video comparison during your fluid mechanics unit. Afterward, teach them to...

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...

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.

Students experiment with different bacterias that they found and make predictions of their growth.  In this investigative lesson students use petri dishes to grow their bacteria then summarize what has happened. 

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.