Human Microbiome Assessment Items (pretest): Fillable pdf
Human Microbiome Assessment Items (posttest): Fillable pdf
Human Microbiome Assessment Items (pretest): Fillable pdf
Human Microbiome Assessment Items (posttest): Fillable pdf
These templates are designed to help students organize and take notes on the beneficial microbes covered in the Your Microbial Friends activity on Learn.Genetics. Both worksheets focus on the important concept that microbes perform beneficial functions all over the body.
Each PDF contains copy masters and an answer guide.
Contextual clues help students match commensal or mutualistic microbes to the area of the human body where they thrive. Includes easy-cut cards featuring eight example microbes and an outline of the human body with space to record answers. Have students work individually or in groups.
Continue the connection to themes in ecology by having students brainstorm which abiotic factors each example microbe faces.
Symbiotic Microbes (fillable pdf)Make enough copies to give each student two cards: one of each color. Keep the cards grouped by color and shuffled.
Students role-play gut-dwelling bacteria with different properties (determined by cards they pick) and try to form different symbiotic relationships. This activity demonstrates the difference between Mutualism, Parasitism, Commensalism, and Competition.
Symbiosis Scramble PDFHave students culture swabs from their skin to "prove" to them that there is indeed an ecosystem of microbes living there! A few simple steps can lead to an engaging exploration of the following concepts:
You may have all students swab the same area of skin to comapare differences among individuals.
You may have students swab multiple areas of their skin to compare the microbial communities found there. Swabs from each area of skin can be cultured in separate agar plates, or in separate areas of the same plate ("divide" the plate into different areas by drawing lines on the outside of the agar-containing side of the plate).
Pre-poured agar plates (For tips on making your own inexpensive plates, see Making Agar Plates.) Instruct students to keep their plate lids closed to avoid contamination.
Sterile swabs or store-bought cotton swabs. Instruct students to handle only the stick part of their swab to avoid contamination.
For a primer on sterlie technique, see Sterile Technique.
Give students the instructions below.
The plates of cultured skin swabs could possibly contain species of Staphylococcus bacteria and other potentially pathogenic microbes in amplified amounts. Once the plates are swabbed, it is very important to keep them sealed to prevent exposure to these microbes.
The microbes that grow on the agar plate represent just a fraction of those found on the skin. Most microbes that live on the human body are adapted to live in a specific ecosystem and cannot be cultured.
Supported by a Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) Grant No. R25OD011129.
The contents provided here are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIH.