by Martina Ederer
Did
you know that human cells are outnumbered at least ten to one by microbial
cells in our bodies? While microbes are typically associated with disease
and insufficient hygiene, we could not exist without our microbial friends.
Do you enjoy cheese, yogurt, and bread? Thanks go again to microbes!
Microbiology is typically underrepresented in the pre-college science curriculum, yet high school may be the last classroom exposure to science for many people. In a world full of news on gene-splicing and DNA fingerprinting, it is difficult to become an informed citizen without some knowledge of microbiology. Many products we encounter in our daily life would not exist without the help of microbes.
Top: Teachers in a science workshop create a decomposition column using everyday materials. Photo by Michele Kimberling, UI Photographic Services
Hands-on activities using low-cost materials for studying microbes in the classroom were presented in a workshop sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology for grade school teachers July 26-30 on the UI campus. Leadership for this annual workshop is awarded through a grant to a different university each year.
What makes your sandwich mold? Should you use antibacterial soaps? What is the role of microbes in bread, yogurt, cheese, chocolate, linen, and glue? Can microbes tell the difference between sugar and artificial sweeteners? Using everyday materials, teams of scientists and science teachers used inquiry-based learning approaches to find answers to these and other questions.
DNA fingerprinting and genetically modified organisms, nitrogen-fixing bacteria and bioluminescence, and natural selection were among the other topics presented to participants from around the country. Ron Crawford, director of the UI Environmental Biotechnology Institute, intrigued his listeners on the subject of detecting life outside the earth as keynote speaker at the Friday night banquet. Robin Patterson from Butler University and Martina Ederer, post-doctoral fellow in microbiology at UI, organized the workshop. Further information is available at the http://www.asmusa.org/ website.
Additional
Reading
Bottle Biology: An Idea Book for Exploring the World Through Plastic Bottles and Other Recyclable
Materials by Mrill Ingram
Magnificent Microworld Adventures: Microscopic Topics by Aims Educational Foundation
Power Unseen: How Microbes Rule the World by Bernard Dixon
The Science Class You Wish You Had: The Seven Greatest Scientific Discoveries in History and the People Who Made Them by David Eliot Brody
Microbe Hunter by Paul De Kruf
Viruses and Bacteria by Dennis Holley
Left: Sophisticated science experiments are created with plastic bottles in Bottle Biology by Mrill Ingram. Bottle Biology Project, University of Wisconsin Fastplants
Children’s Books on Microbes
Those Mean Nasty Dirty Downright Disgusting But...Invisible Germs by Judith Rice, et al.
The Magic School Bus in a Pickle: A Book About Microbes Magic School Bus Book Series
I Know Why I Brush My Teeth by Kate Rowan
Germs, Germs, Germs by Bobby Katz
Germs Make Me Sick by Melvin Berger
Websites
http://www.simhq.org/html/kidszone.html
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/dlc-me/zoo/