Biology Lab – Unit 1 - Invisible Life at Skyline

Objectives:

This lab will follow a review of microscopic life, with a practical test of possible microbes living around us.

Hypothesis:

We believe that microscopic life is all around us at Skyline.

Test of the Hypothesis:

We propose to test this by taking multiple samples from various locations around the campus, allowing these samples to grow in a culture, and observing the results.

Discussion:

In this lab we will collect biological samples from around the Skyline campus and test these samples for the presence of microscopic life. The purpose of this test is to illustrate that microscopic life is all around us, often where we least expect it.

Materials:

• Sterile cotton swabs
• Petri dishes
• Petri dish collection logs
• Microscopes
• Slides
• Cover slips
• Agar Culture Medium

Procedures:

Students will form teams, and will go to several locations around campus to collect samples.

At each location:

- one person from the team will wipe the cotton swabs along a surface to be tested, and then wipe that collected specimen onto a spot on the petri dish

- one person from the team will record the location that the sample was taken from, and where on the petri dish the specimen was applied

- one person from the team will label each petri dish with a sample number that will correspond to a number on the petri dish log

The petri dishes will be incubated over the weekend, and examined next week.

The results of our tests will include both a macroscopic and microscope examination and a recording of any cultures grown.

Each person on the team will prepare a lab report outlining the results of their experiments.