Teacher Employs School's Microorganism Materials in Classroom Activities

Hey there! Let's dive into a captivating story about a Year 7/8 teacher named Sue. She decided to spice things up in one of her units by focusing on microorganisms, making it both timely and interesting for her students.

Avian Influenza Virus

Oh, by the way, have you ever seen an image of the Avian Influenza A H5N1 virus under an electron microscope? It's pretty cool! Although it's not typically found infecting humans, there have been cases reported since 1997.

Classroom Visits from Scientists

Sue stumbled upon the Science Learning Hub as a starting point for her microorganisms journey. She believed that having scientists from the real world come and share their knowledge would elevate the unit. For instance, one student's parent, who happened to be a scientist at the Ruakura Research Centre, paid a visit with a colleague to demonstrate some nifty experiments involving Petri dishes and other scientific gear.

Sue also arranged for other scientists to visits with equipment for the students to tinker with. They even got to observe slides of creepy-crawlies like maggots and nits under microscopes!

Microorganisms Unit: Learning Intentions

Sue and her students outlined their objectives for this unit as follows:

Understand the fundamental differences between bacteria, viruses, and fungi, along with their impacts on us, both good and bad.
Learn to cultivate bacteria and fungi in a safe manner under teacher supervision.
Investigate the growth rates under various conditions, like different temperatures, moisture levels, and access to oxygen.
Make predictions, collect data, draw conclusions, and report on experiments related to the growth of bacteria and fungi.
Research and present information about the topic, utilizing scientific vocabulary from their textbooks.

Campylobacter Bacteria

Let's talk about Campylobacter bacteria, shall we? These unique, spiral-shaped critters are common culprits of diarrhea and dysentery. They can infect people by contaminating food and water due to poor hygiene or inefficient sewage treatment, mainly in chicken meat. If chicken isn't cooked properly or raw meat juices contaminate other food, food poisoning can occur.

Teaching and Learning Activities

The core of the unit's content revolves around bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The students researched facts about bacteria and the roles of good and bad bacteria in yogurt and cheese production. Moreover, they had to identify and label various shapes of bacteria.

For one experiment, the students were asked to label prepared agar plates and place an unwashed fingerprint on one side. After washing their hands with soap and water, they repeated the exercise. Much to their surprise, the washed fingers had more bacteria than the unwashed ones! This triggered a discussion about the effectiveness of various hand-washing techniques.

Washing Hands

Washing hands is key to preventing the spread of cold and flu viruses, so don't forget to scrub 'em!

Another experiment involved growing fungus using the Grow your own fungus activity idea. The activity included four different experiments to determine what conditions fungi love the most (cold temperatures, no oxygen, moisture, and control). For the purpose of this experiment, the students grew fungi on bread. This experiment, unfortunately, didn't go as planned, as the students lost interest quickly. The teacher and students discussed the possibility of taking a series of photographs and using them to review the progress in each condition during class instead.

Assessment

Sue evaluated the students based on their creation of a recorded experiment and a summative assessment test. She assessed whether they had a suitable title, aim, hypothesis, methods, and results, together with proper scientific terminology in their explanations and correctly drawn, labeled diagrams.

Microorganisms - introduction is a collection of resources utilized by this teacher.

The activity Grow your own fungus explores the ideal conditions for fungus growth using various types of food.

Videos can bring scientists right into the classroom, especially when in-person visits aren't possible. Check out Scientists talking to students through videos and Using videos in the classroom to learn more.

Useful Link

Take a peek at the Safety and Science | Pūtaiao - Guidance for Schools and Kura on the Tāhūrangi website from the Ministry of Education in 2023 for safety tips and guidelines for school and kura settings.

Sue introduced the topic of mental health and wellness in her unit, emphasizing the importance of proper nutrition for maintaining a strong immune system to ward off viruses like the Avian Influenza A H5N1.
Fitness and exercise were also integrated into the unit, as studying the growth rates of microorganisms required the students to control conditions such as temperature and moisture, which are closely related to physical environmental factors affecting human health.
The teacher highlighted various therapies and treatments, including the use of scientific procedures and experiments, as essential tools for understanding microorganisms and their impacts on health, both good and bad.