What’s growing in our Petri dish at Cherry Valley?

By Addison Freiheit

• What happens if we swabbed the office counter and then swabbed a Petri dish containing auger?

• I think bacteria will build up. Many people are sick or don’t wash their hands and when they touch the office counter they are spreading germs which can cause bacteria to grow.

• 1)Take a Q-tip and swab the office counter.

• 2)Then run a line across the Petri dish with the swab. Close the dish.

• 3)Take another Petri dish with auger in it and close its lid. That’s the control dish.

• 4)Check the dishes every week.

• 2 Petri dishes with lids• Auger (beef bullion)• Q-tip swab• Office counter• Pencil and paper• Magnifying glass

Swabbed Petri dish with augur Controlled

Petri dish with augur

• Controlled Variable: same size/shape Petri dish, room conditioning, auger

• Manipulated Variable: One was swabbed by the office counter

• Responding Variable: The matter that grows

Green stuff growing

Natural

Green stuff Natural

Green stuff

natural

Green stuff

natural

My prediction was kind of right because something did grow but we don’t know what it is.

• What if we swabbed a lunch table, a key board, and a Kleenex box with the same Q-tip and then swabbed a Petri dish containing auger?