Microorganisms. Finished experiment, now what?

[matthew1]

I Appreciate post previously that helped get me started. I have done my petri dishes, actually did a wet prep and gram stain. I have read and read. It is time to do my paper. I do not know what now. My teacher is off for maternity leave and I am stuck. I swabbed the keyboards of nurses and students. The students had much more growth of bacteria but the nurses had mold growth with different types of mold. All growth was staph. of different sorts, some yeast, and then the mold. So my hypothesis of exposure to illness by the nurses did not turn out right. The nurse did not have more accumulation of bacteria, the students did. SO now what. I tried to count the colonies but to many. I have noted the look and colors of growth etc. BUT I really do not know what now. I am working hard reading, taking notes, taking pictures etc. I even came up with my own home made incubator... I just need advice how to tie it up for final paper... Please help 5th grader who is not sure. Matt

[michellebayefsky]

Dear Matt,

It sound like you've done a great job! When it comes to writing a paper, think about the different parts of the scientific method. I'm not sure exactly what format your teacher has requested you use, but when I write papers, I use the following breakdown:

Introduction - Talk about background information, in your case I believe this would be about how bacteria grows everywhere, how it grows, how some things are dirtier than others. End with a hypothesis, which in your case was that nurses would be exposed to more bacteria (right?)

Materials and Methods - Describe in detail what you have done, usually in chronological order. Don't leave anything out, it is supposed to be so detailed that someone else could repeat the exact experiment.

Results - What did you find? Present the data you collected. Include your descriptions of what the mold and bacteria looked like and a few representative pictures. Then use your numerical data and put then in charts or graphs. Be sure that along with ever picture or table you have a couple of sentences describing what it is showing.

Discussion - Here is where you talk about why you may have found what you found. Use the reading that you have done that gives possible explanations for your results. It is important that this should not repeat the introduction - the introduction gives basic facts whereas the discussion tries to explain why you found what you found.

In writing a paper, always be sure to site your sources! Keep up the great work!

Michelle

[MelissaB]

Hi,
Just to add to Michelle's excellent advice: It's okay that your hypothesis was wrong. It happens all the time in science. In fact, I would argue that every single scientist, including the famous ones (Einstein, Galileo, Darwin, etc.), have been wrong about something, and often many things. The important thing now is to consider why your hypothesis may have been wrong. Consider talking to the nurses about what they do to control the spread of bacteria. Do the students do the same thing(s)?

Sometimes if you cannot count all the colonies, you can divide a plate up into quarters or eighths, count the colonies in that part of the plate, and then multiply by 4 or 8.

Hope this helps!

[deleted-71536]

Hi Matt,

As Melissa pointed out, it's perfectly fine that your hypothesis was not supported by your results. That happens all the time! To set up your paper, you would start (in your Introduction) with background information that led you to your hypothesis. What made you think that you would find more bacteria on nurses' keyboards? You can talk about the kinds of infections that students may have when they come into the nurse's office.

In your Methods and Results, you simply report what you did and the results you found. I'm not sure whether you kept your plates, but you can quantify or count your bacteria by looking at the amount of the plate that is covered rather than the number of colonies. If you did not keep your plates, no worries! I'm sure your pictures will speak for themselves.

Finally, in your Discussion, you can talk about why you saw the results you did see, and why your results did not support your hypothesis. Why do you think the nurses' keyboards had less bacteria? Do nurses wash their hands more than students? What cleaning agents might they use to keep their offices clean? Where do you think the mold came from? Do you think the mold would have grown if there had been more bacteria there? These are things you can discuss to explain what you saw. Let us know if you have more questions.

Good luck!

Heather

[donnahardy2]

Hi Matt,

You have done a lot of work! I am impressed with what you have accomplished. Michelle outlined the basic research paper for you, so do follow her suggestions for the basic paper. You should be able to state your question, hypothesis, list the materials you used, and describe your detailed protocol without a problem, since you have done the experiment.

Since you now have results, you need to analyze and graph your results. Here’s some information from the science buddies website:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ysis.shtml

It’s not clear from your description, but I don’t know if you have exact numbers of microorganisms, or if the plates were too crowded with colonies to count. It would be helpful to anyone reading your paper to “see” a graph of results. Can you put the information in a bar graph, showing the relative numbers of microorganisms in each student and each nurse? Perhaps you could use two colors in each bar to represent bacteria and mold for the total for each person. Here’s more information on creating a bar graph:

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/classic/bar.asp

If this is not helpful, please post your data and I’ll try to help show you how to do this.

Next, you need to explain the significance of your results. You did see a difference between the numbers of bacteria between students and nurses. Mold spores are ubiquitous (found everywhere), so are not necessarily just associated with the nurses keyboards. The kids’ keyboards did grow more bacteria, and this is the result that you need to explain. Do you know if nurses wash their hands more frequently than students? Do the nurses use hand sanitizers more? Do the nurses use the keyboards less frequently compared to the students? Were the keyboards used by nurses and students made of different materials? You need to either observe or ask your subjects and try to find out why kids have more bacteria.

By the way, unless you have done specific testing, I don’t think you can identify colonies at staph (Staphylococcus aureus) or yeast. You should refer to the colonies using a general term, such as colony, microorganism, or bacterium. Fuzzy colonies can be identified as mold because these are distinctive.

I hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Donna Hardy

[matthew1]

Thank you all so much. I have enjoyed my project. I appreciate everyone's help. I was getting mixed up with how to make it clear. I have pages of notes and note cards.
I really like the idea of counting the amount of a plate that is covered versus counting colonies.
I am trying to graph it with amount of plate with growth at 24, 48, and 72 hours for students versus nurses.
I have taken pictures along the way. I am putting my paper together. I will keep all up to date on my progress.
Matt

[donnahardy2]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your message. It sounds like you have everything under control, but do let us know if you need any more information.

We have really enjoyed helping you with this project. I think you have a great future ahead as a scientist in a research laboratory!

Donna Hardy

[matthew1]

I won my grade level science fair at my school making me eligible for the district fair. I won my district fair.
I have credited science buddies for the help and encourage my friends to sign on next year. Thank you.
Matthew

[deleted-71536]

Congratulations, Matthew! So glad to hear the good news.

[donnahardy2]

Hi Matthew,

Congratulations! We're so happy that you won. You did a really good job with your project.

Donna Hardy

[matthew1]

Bummer, Being in only 5th grade I was not eligle to participate in the regional science fair. The state rules specify 6th -12 th grade. My school and district were unaware of this limitation... I was allowed to go for the experience but not to be judged. Was really sad for a while. I will be better prepared for this coming year. My teacher said I should do a continuation of project. I asked what do I do, but she said that is up to me. I have thought all summer, but still not sure.
Do I ask why the nurses had mold but not the students, do I test the nurses and the students hands versus what I did in the first of testing keyboards. I am real confused. I have not asked my science teacher this year yet. I though am in computer lab now and wanted to get your ideas. Help me if you can? WHAT is a continuation of a previous years project? Where would I go with mine. I checked for transfer and accumulation of bacteria on keyboards?
Matthew 1 In 6th grade now and want to be ready for fair.

[amyC]

Hi Matthew - I just saw your post here, appended to your other posts from your last fair. I was going to move it to a new topic so that it will be spotted by our Experts, but I see that you also posted a new topic and are getting help from our Experts.

I am glad you are excited about the fair this year!

Amy
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