Microbiology Level: 6th Grade Time Frame: 1 Quarter  Description: Students will focus on the characteristics of microorganisms.  Human interactions with microbes and disease are studied, as well as, food safety.

Overview Activity List Learning Objectives Standards Resources

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to...

• Classify objects as living, nonliving, or dead.

• Compare the characteristics of living and nonliving things.

• Distinguish between plants and animals.

• Compare and contrast the movements of plants and animals.

• Observe and describe the motion of several animals.

• Identify several forms of animal locomotion that have been copied by human technology.

• Observe different forms of animal locomotion.

• Describe and compare the locomotion of a variety of animals.>

• Compare growth rates in human beings.

• Identify the parts of the human body that grow least or most during various growth stages.

• Design an experiment to test the effect of different conditions on seed growth.

• Explain why large size may pose problems to living things.

• Identify different types of growth patterns, including continued growth, renewal, reproduction, regeneration, and harmful growth.

• Recognize the relationship between a stimulus and a response.

• Observe an earthworm's response to a stimulus and classify this response as positive or negative.

• Infer the correct relationship between a stimulus and a response in animal behavior.

• Comprehend how scientists may work cooperatively over long periods of time to solve scientific problems.

• Explain the role of biological clocks in the behavior of living things.

• Describe examples of migration and the factors affecting it.

• Identify how different animals regulate body heat.

• Compare and contrast warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals and their responses to temperature changes.

• Set up an experiment to determine the effect of body size on rate of heat loss.

• Recognize the relationship between an animal's adaptation and the animal's ability to survive.

• Compare the time of adaptation with the life span of an individual organism.

• Differentiate among the parts of a microscope.

• Use a microscope properly to observe tiny objects.

• Prepare wet mounts of several kinds of cells.

• Identify the main parts of plant and animal cells.

• Compare and contrast typical plant and animal cells.

• Identify some of the precautions that should be taken to avoid the contamination of food by microorganisms.

• Define microorganism.

• Briefly describe the development of the microscope.

• Estimate the size of the microorganisms by using the diameter of the field of view of a microscope.

• Identify a variety of microorganisms that live in water.

• Describe some of the environmental factors that could affect populations of microorganisms.

• Describe some of the characteristics that are used to classify microorganisms.

• Explain the relationships that exist between microorganisms and humans.

• Describe what some soil microorganisms look like.

• Identify some of the harmful, as well as beneficial, effects of microorganisms that live in the soil.

• Explain the relationship between microorganisms and the food sources of marine organisms.

• Outline the problem-solving method used by Pasteur to discover the relationship between bacteria and food spoilage.

• Explain how society depends on the technology of pasteurization.

• Describe how knowledge of microorganisms can lead to their control and use in foods.

• Describe the conditions necessary for the active growth of yeast cells.

• Explain how molds grow and reproduce.

• Identify some harmful effects of molds.

• Describe how substances produced by some microorganisms can be used to control harmful microorganisms.

• Explain the purpose and importance of antibiotics.

• Explain how microorganism are able to multiply so rapidly.

• Describe how temperature affects the reproduction rate of microorganisms.

• Analyze methods of food preservation.

• Describe how microorganisms travel through the air.

• Explain the importance of proper hand-washing techniques.

• Develop a set of rules for reducing the risk of infection by microorganisms.

• Explain what to do in unsanitary conditions are encountered in a restaurant.

• Describe how to register a complaint about unsanitary condition sin a restaurant.

Standards

Illinois Learning Standards (Middle School)- As a result of their schooling students will be able to: 

12A. Know and apply concepts that explain how living things function, adapt and change.

12.A.3c      Compare and contrast how different forms and structures reflect different functions (e.g., similarities and differences among animals that fly, walk or swim; structures of plant cells and animal cells).  

12B. Know and apply concepts that describe how living things interact with each other and with their environment.

12.B.3b     Compare and assess features of organisms for their adaptive, competitive and survival potential           
(e.g., appendages, reproductive rates, camouflage, defensive structures).  

13B. Know and apply concepts that describe the interaction between science, technology and society.

13.B.3b     Identify important contributions to science and technology that have been made by individuals and groups from various cultures.

Illinois Science Assessment Framework: Grade 7- For the 7^th grade ISAT, students are expected to be able to:

12.7.05      Understand that some organisms are unicellular, others multicellular. Understand that some unicellular

                 organisms are like tiny animals, able to propel themselves or change their shape, and that they are
                 endowed with sensation.
12.7.09      Understand that only some animals are capable of limb-regeneration.
12.7.16      Identify the common characteristics of most plants. 
12.7.34      Understand that the behavior of different organisms is influenced by internal cues and by external cues.
13.7.06      Identify the risks associated with: natural hazards, chemical hazards, and biological hazards
                (e.g., pollen, viruses, bacteria, and parasites).
13.7.09      Identify important contributions to science and technology that have been made by individuals such as
                 Louis Pasteur, Alexander Fleming

National Science Education Standards: Life Science- As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop an understanding of:

• Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function. Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, organs, tissues, organ systems, whole organisms, and ecosystems.

• Disease is a breakdown in structures or functions of an organism. Some diseases are the result of intrinsic failures of the system. Others are the result of damage by infection by other organisms.

• All organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions while living in a constantly changing external environment.

• Regulation of an organism's internal environment involves sensing the internal environment and changing physiological activities to keep conditions within the range required to survive.

• Behavior is one kind of response an organism can make to an internal or environmental stimulus. A behavioral response requires coordination and communication at many levels, including cells, organ systems, and whole organisms. Behavioral response is a set of actions determined in part by heredity and in part from experience.

• An organism's behavior evolves through adaptation to its environment. How a species moves, obtains food, reproduces, and responds to danger are based in the species' evolutionary history.

• Millions of species of animals, plants, and microorganisms are alive today. Although different species might look dissimilar, the unity among organisms becomes apparent from an analysis of internal structures, the similarity of their chemical processes, and the evidence of common ancestry.

Benchmarks for Science Literacy- By the end of the 8th grade, students should know that:

• One of the most general distinctions among organisms is between plants, which use sunlight to make their own food, and animals, which consume energy-rich foods. Some kinds of organisms, many of them microscopic, cannot be neatly classified as either plants or animals.
• Animals and plants have a great variety of body plans and internal structures that contribute to their being able to make or find food and reproduce.
• Similarities among organisms are found in internal anatomical features, which can be used to infer the degree of relatedness among organisms. In classifying organisms, biologists consider details of internal and external structures to be more important than behavior or general appearance.
• Viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites may infect the human body and interfere with normal body functions.

Resources

Champaign Community Unit School District #4 * Mellon Administrative Center
703 South New Street * Champaign, IL 61820 * 217.351.3800