Activity 1.9 - Further Application III

It depends on the facilities and regulations in each country whether the experiments with bacteria can be carried out.

Here students investigate where potentially harmful bacteria can be found in the household and how they can be made visible. They transfer their gained knowledge to their household and reflect this topic.

Experiments: see classroom material Activity 1.9

• Students are to select places they want to test for presence of bacteria. Good places to check are light switches, water faucets, pullover sleeves before they go in the wash, ...
• Students should observe that bacteria colonies and fungi are obvious to varying extends after incubation, but that most detergents do not eliminate all bacterial growth.
• Suggest to the students using different concentrations of cleaners.
• Check with biology colleagues for disposal of bacteria cultures or do the following:
• put in autoclave for min. 20 minutes at 121 °C or in pressure cooker for min. 30 minutes at 116 °C, inactivated material can be given into the dustbin or
• contact hospitals or hygienic institutes to find out whether they will cover the disposal or
• burn outside and not in vicinity of people/schools.