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Microorganisms
Essential Questions
What kind of harmful and beneficial microorganisms are found in our daily lives?
How are microorganisms harmful and beneficial?
How can microorganisms be controlled?
Standards
S5L4 Students will relate how microorganisms benefit or harm larger organisms.
Identify beneficial microorganisms and explain why they are beneficial.
Identify harmful microorganisms and explain why they are harmful.
Vocabulary to know:
Virus
Microorganism
Fungus
Microorganism
What is a microorganism? It is a _________________ _______________________ that is
too small to see without a _______________________. It includes
_______________________, ___________________, bacteria, and other tiny organisms.
Some are ________________________ and _______________________.
How can microorganisms be harmful?
Do you know of any examples of harmful microorganisms?
Ever heard of ______________________ or E. Coli, these can make you very sick.
They are found on raw chicken and other meat, raw eggs, and other foods.
Harmful microorganisms
How do you kill the bacteria?
By _______________________________it of course…but if food is left out of the
refrigerator for _____________ hours or longer, harmful bacteria will start to grow on it.
Do you know that you probably have bacteria on your skin right now???
You probably have some _________________________ bacteria on your skin.
Staph can cause pimples and can even cause serious infections of the blood, bones, and lungs
if you are not careful.
What is a virus?
A virus
is_________________________________________________________________________
______.
A virus is even smaller than bacteria. It must use a living cell to grow and reproduce.
Virus can cause _____________________________.
What about a fungus?
Do you know that you eat some fungi?
Can you give any examples? Yeast that is in bread, mushrooms, and penicillin. These are
______________________ harmful to you.
How can a fungus be harmful?
You have probably found something hidden in the back of your refrigerator that has
something furry and green growing on it.
You do not want to eat this. Why?
Harmful mold and other fungi..
…spread through crops and kill them.
…can rot food and wood.
…can cause several kinds of skin diseases like athlete’s foot and ringworm.
So are there really helpful microorganisms?
You might be surprised to learn that we can not ____________________________ without
microorganisms.
Without algae and other tiny plants floating in the ocean, we would not even have enough
_________________________________to stay alive!
Algae and Plankton
These float on the surface of the ____________________________and is an important part
of the _____________________ chain.
Microorganisms and food
Did you know that microorganisms help provide us with food? Can you think of any?
Yes!
Did you know that on gram of yogurt contains 1 billion bacteria!!
Microorganisms and digestion...
Without microorganisms you would have trouble eating any food.
Certain bacteria in our bodies help ________________________________ our food.
Also, there many medicines that are produced with microorganisms. Have you ever taken
penicillin?
Are there any other uses for microorganisms?
Yep! Some help remove harmful wastes from sewage at water treatment plants.
Others can help clean up oil spills.
Microorganisms make dead things ___________________________________.