Students are able to turn milk into mozzarella cheese in one class period.  This is a great way to demonstrate lactic acid fermentation and the food making process- one of the original biotechnology examples!  Rennet can be purchased online, or you can talk to your local cheese plant to see if they will donate the small amount you will need.  Other ingredients are supplies can easily be purchased in your local grocery store.  

In a multi-week experiment, students monitor the core temperatures of two compost piles, one control and one tended, to see how air and water affect microbial activity. They daily aerate and wet the "treated" pile and collect 4-6 weeks' worth of daily temperature readings. Once the experiment is concluded, students plot and analyze their data to compare the behavior of the two piles. They find that the treated pile becomes hotter, an indication that more microbes are active and releasing heat. Through this activity, students see that microbes play a role in composting and how composting can be used as a carbon management process.

In a multi-week experiment, student teams gather biogas data from the mini-anaerobic digesters that they build to break down different types of food waste with microbes. Using plastic soda bottles for the mini-anaerobic digesters and gas measurement devices, they compare methane gas production from decomposing hot dogs, diced vs. whole. They monitor and measure the gas production, then graph and analyze the collected data. Students learn how anaerobic digestion can be used to biorecycle waste (food, poop or yard waste) into valuable resources (nutrients, biogas, energy).

This article by the National Library of Medicine teaches readers how germs make people ill. It includes several sections - what microbes are, the types of microbes (including viruses, bacteria, fungi, helminths, protozoa, and prions), how we encounter microbes, the mechanisms by which germs may enter a human host, how pathogens cause illness, and some examples of germs that cause illness. Students can make flashcards of each microbe and its mechanism of causing illness as they read. This article is great for comprehension and retention as it includes pictures, microscopic images, and diagrams. By reading this article, students should have a clear understanding of how each type of microbes contributes to illness.

This field and classroom activity involves identification of similarities, differences, advantages, and disadvantages in survival, method of locomotion, food acquisition, and reproduction in three fresh-water microbes.

In a class demonstration, students observe a simple water cycle model to better understand its role in pollutant transport. This activity shows one way in which pollution is affected by the water cycle; it simulates a point source of pollution in a lake and the resulting environmental consequences.

How do phylogenetic trees help us look more closely at microbial evolution? Explore sequence data and extend your tree thinking to examine possible relationships between the microbes and other life forms. The Biology Workbench provides access to data and tools for investigating these relationships. * read a phylogenetic tree