We have began our research on different pathogens.
Being a science unit, our research has been very hands-on as. The science strand ' Living Things" helps us focus on the following:
The study of the characteristics, systems, and behaviours of humans and other animals (including pathogens) ; their interactions and relationships between and among them, and their environment.
They key words that stood out for us was "behaviour", "interaction" and "relationship."
Our big question was: under what conditions do micro organisms like bacteria/fungi thrive?
In order to find out how microorganism, behave and interact with their environment, we made some food for our classroom guests, the metaphorical white elephants -millions of them in 6B.
We made some very tasty pasty dough using white flour and water.
We then weighed the dough...
Then,
We needed to use our estimation skills! We finally adjusted the dough after weighing each portion.
We discussed our variables as all scientists do.
The control was one open ziplock back with the dough in it, placed on the classroom desk.
We adjusted the other ziploc bags to create different conditions.
Read as push!
Unfortunately, the cleaning staff of our school thought the better of this sample.
We have been weighing the dough every day and noting down any changes in weight. With a little more data in hand, we should be able to create a line graph indicating what is going on inside those plastic bags. It will be very interesting to compare the data.
We have started observing how the pathogens in the air are interacting with their environment.
Suddenly there is a party going on and they have all come together. We realised that was why we could finally see them!
A big learning moment for the girls.
Alongside this, we have began comparing the different types of pathogens.
Students were asked to complete a matrix comparing bacteria, virus and fungi and write what they know or think they know about these tiny living things (or non-living- they don't know this yet)
| Criteria | Bacteria | Virus | Fungi |
| Size | |||
What they need to survive
| |||
| are they harmful or useful when in our bodies | |||
| Can we use them in our daily lives? | |||
| How can we control them? |
The students had 10 minutes to work in pairs and come up with the answers.
The next 10 minutes-
As a whole class we then came up with the following matrix:
And we finally were able to focus on our next research focus:
That's all for today.
Be nice to our micro friends and they will be nice to you!
Have a great weekend.
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