how do we know that microorganisms are all around us when we can't see them? since we don't have a microscope we created our own petri dishes to test various surfaces for microbes and to grow colonies that can be seen with the naked eye.
first we made a microbial growth medium (water, gelatin, sugar and a bouillon cube) and brought it all to a boil.
while we boiled our "germ food" we divided our petri dishes into four different sections to separate the four different surfaces we would test. we poured the mixture into our dishes and once it hardened we were ready to swab! we used clean q-tips to test hair, our faces, the doorknob, and lots of other great surfaces...
next we gently rubbed the q-tip across the section we had labeled for that surface. then we closed the lids, put them in the window, and waited.
after a couple days we were able to see some fungi growing!
we studied the changes and documented them in our journals.
we used
this helpful diagram to study the form, elevation and margin of our fungi.
by studying pictures of various molds and bacteria, we concluded that we had grown both green mold and pink yeast colonies! gross but super interesting!
