On Mar 12, Kindergarten students from Pearlridge Elementary spent time with Research Scientists and Science undergraduate students from Chaminade University. They got to hear about what its like to be a scientist, and what it takes to be a University students studying science.

After putting on lab coats and safety glasses, they performed their first experiment. Each student received a tube with liquid, and one of the students received a tube containing a pretend “bad germ”. All the tubes looked the same so they could not tell who had the “bad germ”. They exchanged their liquid with one another, and after a few minutes an indicator was added to determine if they got “infected”. Students who got infected had dark pink liquid, students who did not get infected had clear liquid, while those mildly infected had light pink liquid. Students documented their results by making a bar graph and a pie chart. We explain that Scientists like to use different types of graphs to easily see the results of their experiment. Each type of graph tells the “story” of the data in a different way so we can better understand the results.

Their second experiment required the students to become “germ hunters” to see if there were germs in their environment. They predicted if an object had germs or did not have germs on it. They took a swab and wiped the object to collect any germs. Then they gently plated the sample onto a nutrient agar dish. If their object had germs, they predicted that they would see bacterial or fungi growing on it in a few days. If the object did not have germs they predicted that they would not have any growth on the plates.

They also performed a hand washing experiment. They took samples from their teacher’s hand before and after hand washing to see how hand washing affects the amount of germs on the teacher’s hand.

We returned 3 days later with the agar dishes for the students to make careful observations and document what they saw growing on their dishes. They got a mini-microbiology lesson so they could understand what they were seeing on their dishes.

The students drew what they saw, made a chart to count the different types of bacteria or fungi and made conclusions on whether the object they tested had germs or not.

The students enjoyed working with real scientific microscopes, and were thrilled to see “stuff” growing on their agar dishes. They thought the bacteria and mold growing were “gross.” We discussed the role of “good germs” and “bad germs”, how our immune system works to keep us healthy, and why hand washing is important and how it works to keep us safe.

The students had a lot of fun sharing their discovery with us and their classmates, teachers and vice principal.

Click here to visit the Kindergarteners of Pearlridge Elementary School Photo gallery