Take a look at the spreadsheets we are creating this week from data recorded from our Bacteria Experiment. Students decided to count the number of colonies in their petri dish three times over a 2 week period. Each color represents a different class, but we are looking at all the data together which is pretty interesting and gruesome considering Halloween is on Thursday!

Spreadsheets and Good Bacteria!

   This week we look forward to measuring the growth of our bacteria that students hopefully gathered from different areas of the school. We'll decide together on how to measure the growth from petri-dish check to petri-dish check. Our job will be to record our findings in a spreadsheet individually and ultimately as a class.
   We'll also be discovering more about the 'good' bacteria that we need to survive!

Gross...............yuck!

   This week we'll swab various areas at Mt. Blue Middles School, hoping to find bacterial cells to grow in petri dishes. Students have selected places to explore and we should be capturing some really weird cells that will multiply through asexual reproduction using gelatin as food, water, and shelter!
   Our intention is to start identifying some of the organelles in the bacteria and eventually move towards discovering the differences between those cells and animal or plant cells. Students will use the dissecting scopes to explore that growth and we may make slides for microscope viewing later in the week.

Asexual Reproduction.........what?

   It's time to find bacteria hiding at Mt. Blue Middle School. Students will swab an area of their choice and try to grow bacteria in a petri dish filled with gelatin. We'll have a control variable petri dish along with the independent variable petri dish. Students will become familiar with terms in designing experiments that are valid. Hopefully the control variable will produce nothing, while the independent variable will show bacteria asexually reproducing, using the gelatin as food and shelter.

Oh Deer!

Students have been investigating whether or not agricultural run-off plays a role in affecting populations of different species in the Sandy River. While students make various tables and graphs,

 we are also playing the game called "Oh Deer" to determine if there are any similarities between the two habitats. (Sandy River and Maine Woods)  There seems to be a direct correlation to the amount of food a species receives compared to its population within the habitat. More food seems to equal larger populations. Is agricultural run-off food?