Teach Engineering: Bacteria Are Everywhere!

Through this activity, students are introduced to the concept of engineering biological organisms and studying their growth to be able to identify periods of fast and slow growth. Students learn that bacteria are found everywhere, including on the surface of our own hands. Students study three different conditions under which bacteria are found and compare the growth of the individual bacteria from each source. In addition to monitoring the quantity of bacteria from differ conditions, students also record the growth of bacteria over time, which is an excellent tool to study binary fission and the reproduction of unicellular organisms.