Before your Museum Visit: Bacteria
Teacher information
There are over 6,000 species of bacteria known on earth. There are probably millions we haven't studied yet. Some bacteria can make us very sick. Even though some bacteria cause sickness, we could not survive without bacteria. Some provide antibiotics, some break down garbage and dead plant and animal matter. E. coli are bacteria that can make us sick but some varieties also live in our intestines and help us digest meat. Bacteria and other microbes are responsible for a lot of the food we eat.
Bacteria and Viruses
But not all sickness is caused by bacteria. Viruses cause some illness. Viruses are responsible for colds and the flu, along with serious illnesses like AIDS. Viruses are so small that they require special microscopes to be seen. They do not have organelles; they only have DNA - so most scientists don't think that viruses are alive.
Discuss what students know or think about bacteria.
Draw a concept map on an overhead or on the board. Put "bacteria" in the central bubble. Ask students to suggest other words or phrases that they think of when they think of bacteria. Add to or revise the concept map after the visit to the museum.
Students may think that all bacteria cause illness and so believe that all bacteria are harmful to humans. Try this activity with students to introduce the idea of beneficial bacteria.
Bacteria and foods (PDF)
Use this take-home activity for students to have them investigate some bacterial roles that are beneficial for humans. Read the instructions together and send home the activity to share this information with other families. Use the survey data to make a bar graph, or ask groups of students to present their data with two different types of graphs.
Teacher information
For more information on bacteria and specific foods:
Models and Bacterial Growth
Teacher information
Claudia Neuhauser is a mathematician who studies living things. She uses computer modeling to figure out how to predict behavior of organisms under certain conditions. Students may not be familiar with a "model" that is on paper or in a computer program, but this model is still a simplified image of the real world, just like an airplane model they play with.
Share this interview with Dr. Neuhauser with your students.
Things to talk about:
Scientists need math to do science. Sometimes people who work in the mathematics field (a mathematician) can also help develop science knowledge.
Share this interview with Dr. Neuhauser with your students.
Dr. Neuhauser makes up models to study living things. Use this simple model to learn more about how bacteria make copies of themselves (reproduce).
Like all cells, bacteria create copies of themselves by growing and dividing in two. In this activity, we will use objects to show how bacteria reproduce (make copies of themselves). We will be making a model of how a bacterial colony becomes larger.
Modeling Bacteria Growth: Doubling Bacteria (lesson plan - PDF)
Bacteria and vectors (disease transmission)
Teacher information
Bacteria may not move from one place to another by themselves, but some organisms can transfer bacteria that cause disease from one surface to another. These organisms are known as disease vectors. One example is the common house fly. Students will look at house fly wings with several different kinds of microscopes during your Science Museum field trip. Microscopes (PDF)
Houseflies have been found to be linked to many diseases that are caused by bacteria. They move these bacteria from one place (e.g. rotting food, animal feces) to another (a kitchen counter or food on the table) on their feet or mouthparts.
Some bacteria commonly transmitted by house flies are Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, and Escherichia, and many other species that cause illness. These flies are most commonly linked to outbreaks of diarrhea and shigellosis, but also can transmit other types of food poisoning, typhoid fever, dysentery, and tuberculosis.
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