Glowing Growing Germs

Exploring the spread of microbes in Bozeman’s elementary schools

Dema Alniemi

Target Audience

• Elementary school kids in Bozeman– 4th graders

Emily Dickinson Hawthorne

Lesson plan

• How illnesses spread

• Human biological defenses

• Expand imaginations

Project Overview

• Glo Germ activity

“Invisibility” of Germs

Germs spread easily!

• Checked hand washing techniques with Glo Germ and UV light

Commonly missed areas

• Fingernails/cuticles• Wrists

• In between fingers• Creases of hands

Project Overview

• “Growing Germs” activity– Swabbed areas around classroom and school– Grew on agar plates for one week– Returned to classroom with results

Floor

Loft ladder

Water fountain

What kids learned…

• How easily bacteria and microbes spread

• Prevention of spread

• Basics of human immune system

What kids learned…

• How to keep self and those around us healthy– Stay home if ill– Cough/sneeze in elbow, not hands– Dispose of used tissue immediately– Daily exercise– Variety of fresh, healthy foods in diet

Challenges of outreach

– Obtaining responses from teachers

– Keeping 9-10 year olds calm

– Working with a child with OCD whose phobia is germs

Successes of outreach

– Science was made fun for students who previously were uninterested in the subject

– Kids made connections between science and everyday life

My favorite part was…• “Learning how germs and bacteria

spread.”-Noah

My favorite part was…

• “Swabbing and seeing what a germ looks like.”

-Hannah

My favorite part was…

• “That I get to do more science and I love science because it’s a lot of fun!”

-Mary Kate

Acknowledgments

• Hughes Undergraduate Biology Program

• Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Thanks also to Martha Sellers, Kylie Perlinski, Gwen Jacobs, Duane Mooney, Edward Dratz, and all the teachers and students I worked with.