Download Giant Microbe Activity This activity is intended to introduce students

Giant Microbe Activity
This activity is intended to introduce students to classifying organisms using Giant
Microbes. I have a collection of 66 Giant Microbes which can be used for the activity.
Nine of the microbes are associated with sexually transmitted disease and can be taken
out of the collection depending on the level and maturity of the students. There are also
two “oddities” in the collection which defy classification – a “martian” microbe and “Mad
Cow Disease”. Depending on the students, these can also be left out of the activity to
avoid confusion for the students.
Conducting the activity.
I would recommend doing this activity in two steps. The first step is to let the students
try to come up with their own classification scheme without providing specific
information about the organisms. Depending on the size of the class, you might have
the students work in small groups, each with a subset of the complete collection.
Groups of 4 or 5 would probably work well. Give the students time to look over their
microbes, come up with a classification scheme and organize the microbes according to
their classifications. Each group should then share their classification scheme with the
class.
The second step will be to have the students organize the entire collection of Giant
Microbes according to a pre-determined classification scheme. The Giant Microbes can
be grouped into three major categories – Eukaryotes (protists and fungi), bacteria and
viruses. In addition, some of the organisms are disease causing and others are not.
This lends itself to the use of the “string game” to organize the Giant Microbes. For
example:
Eukaryotes
Prokaryotes
Disease
Causing
Depending on the particular needs of your class, you can choose other categories for
the string game but I would limit the number of circles to three.
Giant Microbes
(Names in red are associated with STDs)
1. Acidophilus (Lactobacillus acidophilus)
Bacterium
2. Algae (Anabaena)
Bacterium
3. Amoeba (Amoeba proteus)
Eukaryote (protist)
4. Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis)
Bacterium
5. Athlete's Foot (Trichophyton mentagrophytes)
Eukaryote (protist)
6. Bad Breath (Porphyromonas gingivalis)
Bacterium
7. Beer & Bread (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)
Eukaryote (fungus)
8. Bifido (Bifidobacterium longum)
Bacterium
9. Bird Flu (Influenza A virus H5N1)
Virus
10. Black Death (Yersinia pestis)
Bacterium
11. C. Diff (Clostridium difficile)
Bacterium
12. Cavity (Streptococcus mutans)
Bacterium
13. Chagas (Trypanosoma cruzi)
Eukaryote (protist)
14. Chickenpox (Varicella-Zoster virus)
Virus
15. Chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis)
Eukaryote (protist)
16. Cholera (Vibrio cholerae)
Bacterium
17. Clap - Gonorrhea (Neisseria gonorrhoeae)
Bacterium
18. Common Cold (Rhinovirus)
Virus
19. Cough (Bordetella pertussis)
Bacterium
20. Dengue fever
Virus
21. Diarrhea (Campylobacter jejuni)
Bacterium
22. E. coli (Escherichia coli)
Bacterium
23. Ear Ache (Streptococcus pneumoniae)
Bacterium
24. Ebola (Ebola Virus)
Virus
25. Flesh Eating (Streptococcus pyogenes)
Bacterium
26. Flu (Orthomyxovirus)
Virus
27. Food Poisoning (Bacillus cereus)
Bacterium
28. Gangrene (Clostridium perfringens)
Bacterium
29. Giardia (Giardia lamblia)
Eukaryote (protist)
30. Hepatitis (Hepatitis C Virus)
Virus
31. Herpes (Herpes Simplex Virus 2)
Virus
32. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)
Virus
33. HPV (Human papillomavirus)
Virus
34. Kissing Disease (Epstein-Barr)
Virus
35. Leishmania (Leishmania tropica)
Eukaryote (protist)
36. Listeria (Listeria monocytogenes)
Bacterium
37. Lyme Disease (Borrelia burgdorferi)
Bacterium
38. Mad Cow (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) Protein
39. Malaria (Plasmodium falciparum)
Eukaryote (protist)
40. Martian Life (ALH 84001)
Bacterium??
41. Measles (Morbillivirus)
Virus
42. MRSA (Multiple-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) Bacterium
43. Paramecium (Paramecium caudatum)
Eukaryote (protist)
Non-Disease
Non-Disease
Non-Disease
Disease
Disease
Non-Disease
Non-Disease
Non-Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Non-Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Non-disease
Disease
Disease
Non-Disease
44. Penicillin (Penicillium chrysogenum)
45. Pimple (Propionibacterium acnes)
46. Pneumonia (Streptococcus pneumonia)
47. Polio (Poliovirus)
48. Pox - Syphilis (Treponema pallidum)
49. Rabies (Rabies Virus)
50. Red Tide (Alexandrium tamarense)
51. Rubella (Rubella virus)
52. Salmonella (Salmonella typhimurium)
53. Scum (Biddulphia)
54. Sea Sparkle (Noctiluca)
55. Sleeping Sickness (Trypanosoma brucei)
56. Sore Throat (Streptococcus)
57. Staph (Staphylococcus aureus)
58. Stomach Ache (Shigella)
59. Swine Flu (Influenza A virus H1N1)
60. T4 (T4-Bacteriophage)
61. TB (Tuberculosis)
62. Toxic Mold (Stachybotrys chartarum)
63. Toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma gondii)
64. Trichomoniasis (Trichomonas vaginalis)
65. Typhoid Fever (Salmonella typhi)
66. Ulcer (Helicobacter pylori)
67. West Nile (West Nile virus)
68. Yogurt (Lactobacillus bulgaricus)
Eukaryote (fungus)
Bacterium
Bacterium
Virus
Bacterium
Virus
Eukaryote (protist)
Virus
Bacterium
Eukaryote (protist)
Eukaryote (protist)
Eukaryote (protist)
Bacterium
Bacterium
Bacterium
Virus
Virus
Bacterium
Eukaryote (fungus)
Eukaryote (protist)
Eukaryote (protist)
Bacterium
Bacterium
Virus
Bacterium
Non-Disease
Non-Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Non-Disease
Non-Disease
Disease
Disease
Non-Disease
Disease
Non-Disease
Non-Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Disease
Non-Disease