The Five Teams of Microbes (Grade 3-6)

Five Teams of Microbes

Grade Levels: 3 - 6

Overview

Students are introduced to the characteristics of microbes.

Objectives

• Students will gain a frame of reference for
  understanding the size of microbes.
• Students will learn about the general qualities of
  one of the five kinds of microbes.
• Students will work in teams to find information on a
  website.

Materials

• Poster board and markers to make a large poster based
  on the handout (prior to class)
• A ball (for example, a baseball or kickball)
• 
  Microbe handout
  

Procedure

1. Before class begins, make a large poster resembling
   the handout. Attach it to the wall at a height that lets students write on it.
2. Take the class and the ball out to the playing field or another
   similar size area. Once there, ask the students, "How big is a
   microbe?" Wait until you get a few answers, then explain it to them this
   way:

   Let's pretend that this ball is a virus, one kind of microbe. At
   this scale, a bacterium would be the size of
   the class standing together as a group. A
   single human cell would be about the size of
   the entire field. And the human body would be
   the entire planet Earth. The ball versus
   Earth: that’s how big – or really how tiny – a
   microbe is.
   

3. While still out in the field, have the class break
   into five teams: Bacteria, Archaea, Fungi, Viruses, and Protists. Let them do
   it in much the same way they choose teams during recess: quickly choose five
   captains who in turn will select team members.
4. Go to the computer lab. Pass out the
   handout to each team captain. The captains
   are responsible for making sure each
   member has a role in helping to fill out their
   section of the chart and that the team works
   together. They will be graded on this. Write
   the
   following URL on the board where all can see:
   
   http://www.microbe.org/microbes/what_is.asp
   . This is
   the site they should use to gather their information. Tell the students they
   can print out photos from the Internet, but shouldn't paste them onto their
   worksheets yet.
5. When they have finished, return to then classroom
   and have each team write their information on
   the poster you made.

Assessment

See Microbe
Rubric.

Extensions
Browse the entire "Stalking the
Mysterious Microbe" website at
http://www.microbe.org/index.html . There are many
additional activities and inquiries here. Look in particular at the "News" and
"Experiment" sections.