How dirty is the School?

Lab

Name:

Period:

Question: What area of the school harbors the most bacteria? Which harbors the most
diverse group?
Background Research:A solid source for bacterial growth is essential if organisms are
to be isolated. In the laboratories of Robert Koch, gelatin was first used to achieve
bacteria colonies. Agar now serves as a more useful material; it will remain solid until
heating and then will solidify as it cools. Before it cools (and solidifies) it can be
poured into petri dishes. Using sterile technique minimizes the contamination of the
agar before you are ready to inoculate it with bacteria from other sources.
In this lab you will be inoculating plates and observing bacterial growth. Microscopes
can then be used to identify specific bacteria. This lab may take several days.
Hypothesis:
If I sample the door handle on one of the school doors then I will find bacteria
because that a lot of people have touched the door handles leaving germs behind.
Procedure:
I. Preparing Your Plates
Obtain (or make) an agar plate. It is important to not contaminate the agar before
you are ready to take your samples, so leave the lid closed. Microbiologists always
label the bottom, not the lid, of the plate so that the lids do not get accidentally
mixed.
Without opening any of the petri dishes, use a marking
pen to divide the dish into four quadrants and label the
sections as shown on the bottom of the plates.
Label Each quadrant with the Location that was sampled.
II. Sampling and Inoculation
Sample your chosen location using the cotton swap. Rub
the swab over the location for 5-10 seconds. Then
Inoculate you plate with the swab by rubbing in a back
and forth motion over the quadrant. Keep the lid of the
dish shut until inoculation, only lift the lids as far as
needed to inoculate.
III. Analyzing Colonies
You will identify and categorize different bacterial colonies based on varied
appearance and morphology (form and structure), When a single bacterial cell is
deposited on the surface of a nutrient medium (agar), it begins to divide
exponentially. After thousands of cells are formed, a visible mass appears which is
called a COLONY. Each species of bacteria will exhibit characteristic colonies.
Terms:
Colony Shape and size -- round, irregular, punctiform (tiny)
Margin edge -- entire (smooth), undulate (wavy), lobate (lobed)

How dirty is the School? Lab

Name:

Period:

Elevation -- convex, flat, raised

Color -- color + opaque, translucent, shiny or dull
Texture -- moist or dry (rough)
1. Draw each plate, showing how colonies are spread across the agar surface.
2. Pick several colonies on your plates and describe them using the terms above.
3. (Optional) You may wish to photograph your plates and include them in your final
lab report.

Day___1_____

Day___4_____

How dirty is the School? Lab

Observations:

Name:

Period:
Observations:

There were a few white swirls in the jelly.

There was some white bacteria
starting to grow in the lower corner
of the dish.

1. What are 2 difference in Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic cells that you saw in Lab?
(You can you use your skin as an example of Eukaryotic cells.)
Prokaryotic cells are a lot smaller than eukaryotic cells and prokaryotic cells don't
have a nucleus and eukaryotic cells do.

2. What were places in the school that were positive for Bacteria? Which surprised
you the most? Which surprised you the least? Why?
Some places that were positive for bacteria are the girls shower, the water fountain,
and the railing. What surprised me the most was girls shower because you would think
all the soap that is being used in them would wash away the bacteria. What surprised
me the least was the railing because those get touched by all sorts of different people
who have different germs.

3. How do you think bacteria contamination effects the rates of seasonal flu
infections? Why?
Bacteria contamination effects the rates of seasonal flu infections because it causes it
to spread around faster and increases the amount of people that get the infection.