Biotechnology Ideas

EDCR232 – Groups 1 & 2

2010

How to Make Yoghurt… • 2 x 250 ml milk (or skim milk powder in the same volume of

water)• saucepan

• 2 jars with lids or covers, each large enough to hold

about 300 ml of liquid• thermometer

• 1 tablespoon of plain, unflavoured, yoghurt from the

supermarket• bowls and spoons for mixing

1. Sterilise the jars by placing them in boiling water for five minutes and let them dry.2. Label the jars ‘1: yoghurt’ and ‘2: control’.3. Warm the milk over medium heat in a saucepan to 43-46°C (avoid burning the milk).4. Place 250 ml milk in both of the jars.5. Add a tablespoon of yoghurt as a starter culture to jar 1 and mix well.6. Seal both jars and place in an incubator at 43-46°C overnight. If an incubator is notavailable, you can place the jars in a warm spot such as a water heater cupboard, anoven with a 40 watt light bulb turned on. Alternatively, transfer the milk mixtures intotwo thermos flasks for 4–5 days.7. Check your milk mixtures and record what happens in the two jars.Note: do not eat the control mixture.

Websites to Support Learning• http://lesson-plans-materials.suite101.com/article.cfm/making-yog

hurt-in-the-classroom• http://www.makeyourownyogurt.com/make-yogurt/what-you-nee

d• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGB2DVUbG1Q

Safety Considerations• Care is needed when measuring

contents• Heating milk may need to be done by an

adult

Year Level1-5 years

Bruce’s InvestigationLevel 2

Bruce has come across a thief, he needs help from room 4 to solve the

mystery.

All of us need to work together to find the clues towards where the thief is

hiding.

Set up a crime scene which has clues including finger prints and clothing. The children will have to compare several sets of fingerprints and clothing using magnifying glasses. Children will be able to compare their own fingerprints with each others.

Safety Tips• Take care with the magnifying glasses• Keeping the ink in a certain area Websites related• http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore

/crimescene.htm• http://www.ehow.com/how_510074_teach-cr

ime-scene-investigation-kids.html• http://investigation.discovery.com/videos/solv

ed-fingerprint-analysis.html

Indoor Garden

What you need and what to doSunny window sill

A few seeds of chosen vegetables Potting soil

Natural sunlight (6 hours per day)Watered daily

Buckets with room for growthTurn plant frequently

Wait for plant to reach 15-20 cm before harvesting

Children are continually bombarded with advertising for fast food and unhealthy treats. One of the most important lessons you can teach them is how to tend and grow their own food from the garden.

ReferencesTlc.howstuffworks.comhttp://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/gardening-for-kids.html

Safety Tips / Rules• Wash hands before dealing with

plants• Be respectful of the plant• Don’t use gardening tools as

weapons• Don’t throw dirt or seeds at

others• Make sure what's in the garden

stays in the garden until ready to be eaten.

Alannah, Steph and Annalese

Ginger Beer

Fermenting Our Own Ginger Beer• Using simple ingredients the classroom children

will explore and participate in the fermenting process as they produce ginger beer. This process will take approximately one week to complete and involves lives yeast.

• Safety considerations include: Never use glass bottles Refrigerate and consume within 6 days Consider religious views on fermenting processes

Age and Level • Appropriate for years 4 – 8

working at level 3 and above.

• Web links: www.scienceinschool.org www.biotechlearn.org.nz www.techlink.org.nz

Caring for our classroom rats.Teaching children compassion and animal care is not always easy, this can be solved by having a classroom pet like a rat. Having a pet in the classroom encourages:•Responsibility•Cleanliness •Compassion•Empathy•Gentle/ careful handling of animals•Understanding of animal dietary requirements•Understanding of animal behaviours •Enjoying the animals attributes and its personality.

All ages and any level need to have experiences with classroom pets like rats.

Safety tips:• Wash your hands before and after handling the animals as it protects them from anything that you

have on your hands and it also protects you from anything they might have.• The cage must be cleaned out every second day.• The tray to clean the cage must be lockable to prevent children handling faeces. The cage must also

be kept at ground level for safety reasons. • Rats must not be let free to roam the classroom because of health and safety regulations, not just

for the humans but also for the rat’s safety. • Droppings etc… should be disposed of appropriately, not just put into the classroom bin!Awareness:• Gentle handling (not picking them up by the tail)• They need clean water (fresh water) and fresh food daily. • Food must be fresh and kept in sealed containers until used. Stale rat food must not be feed to

them.• Rats are intelligent and any miss-handling will result in the rats not trusting particular or even

sometimes all people.

Resources on the web:

• http://www.quite.co.uk/rats/ (teaching resource)

• http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/careofrats/a/ratscare.htm (older children’s resource)

• http://www.afrma.org/rminfo1.htm (older children’s resource)

• http://www.rat-care.com/training.html (middle to senior school resource.)

Bird feeders

Students will first of all research what types of birds are in the area. They will then research

what sort of food attracts these birds. Next they will research different bird feeder designs that

will be effective for their birds e.g. a bird feeder for an albatross and a blackbird would be

different.

Age group: level one (5 and 6 year olds)

Safety tip: Students need to be careful when they make their feeders to make sure there are no sharp edges to injure the birds.

- Work with safety gloves on when handling the bird food.

Web links:

- http://www.osweb.com/kidzkorner/feeder.htm

- http://www.kinderart.com/crafts/easybirdfeeder.shtml

- http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/BirdFoods.htm

By Amy, Jessica, Caitlin, Rebecca

Future foodsTopic summaryWhat would you need to do to create a snack bar that tastes great and is healthy? Join the Lifestyle Foods team, where scientists, nutritionists and food manufacturers are working together to create a product that consumers want to buy.Too often people choose to eat foods that don’t match their lifestyles and energy needs. This can result in a number of problems such as weight gain or loss, inability to concentrate, and energy levels that are too low or too high, which in turn can lead to other problems, such as diabetes and heart disease. Tasks include: designing a model of the human digestive system, and exploring foods for energy.

Safety tipsPractice safe hygiene.

Web linkshttp://www.biotechlearn.org.nz/focus_stories/future_foods http://www.biotechlearn.org.nz/focus_stories/future_foods/designing_a_model_of_the_human_digestive_system http://www.biotechlearn.org.nz/focus_stories/future_foods/food_for_energy

FUTU

RE

FOO

DS

Year

7-8

Sustainability

Creating worm farms within the classroom.

Age: Year 3’sTopic: Sustainability

Safety awarenessChildren washing hands before and after working

with the worm farm.• Avoid consumption.• Monitor leachate and waste materials used to

feed the pile.Weblinks:

http://www.sustainability.govt.nz/rubbish/worm-farming

http://www.wormfarmguide.com/commercial-composting.html

Topic Overview• A worm farm is a self-contained system that retains most

nutrients for re-use. Worm farms break down your organic rubbish into nutrient-rich compost-like substance (worm castings) and ‘worm juice’ that can then be used in your garden.

• Worm bins can be bought at hardware stores or garden centres, or made from an existing container or from recycled materials. Commercial bins often have a tap for collecting the ‘worm juice’ that you can then use as a fertiliser.

By Grace Ruddenklau and Sarah Brodie

Yoghurt Making

within the classroom

Topic Summary

• Students will make yogurt to learn about "helpful" microorganisms.

• Making yoghurt in the classroom can be directed at any level.

• Other curriculum areas:- Science- Social science (Cultural aspect)

Web links:

• http://www.landlearn.net.au/curriculum/classroom_activities/making_yoghurt.htm

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTM_tafz3Bg

• http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=2515

Safety

Hygiene:- Wash hands before- Have a clean, specific making area

Equipment:- Often hot elements/burners are used

Creating a Garden The Newspaper and Straw Method

By Shannon Leigh Buchanan

and John Nicolson

Age Group: Yr 1 – Yr 8Level: 1 - 4

What is needed?

• You need some time! (The garden takes 3-4 months to develop and be ready for planting.)

• You need lots of newspaper and pea straw, or some other mulch - grass clippings will do just fine.

What do you do?

• Once you have the newspaper and peastraw, mow the lawn down very low to help kill the grass, then lay newspaper, three or four sheets thickness, or five or six thick for strong growing grass that spreads by runners.

• Cover the newspaper with peastraw or some other mulch - grass clippings will do. In three or four months, your garden will be nearly ready.

• If starting this project in dry months, make sure the mulch and newspaper is well watered to help the decomposition process.

• After three to four months, the soil will be easy to dig over. Rake the newspaper and mulch off to one side and start digging. If the peastraw and newspaper looks sufficiently decomposed, dig it in; if you don’t like your soil so chunky, then the compost will enjoy it, so put it there.

What does it look like?

Setting up the garden Plants growing in the garden

Weblinks

• http://www.organicpathways.co.nz/garden/story/109.html

• http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/gardening/6783/plant-life-pea-straw-perfect

• http://www.bestgardening.com/bgc/howto/organicnodig01.htm

Caring for Goldfish in the Classroom Teaches children responsibility and skills associated

with caring for animals. Suitable for Y1-8 classrooms.

Helpful Tips for the classroomDon’t overfeed meChange my water regularlyMake sure I have a good water flow

Links:http://www.goodgoldfishcare.com/https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/scprosen/www/http://www.tki.org.nz/r/science/caring_for_animals/animal_care/goldfish/index_e.phpfeed

Jessica Story, Aneka Thomson, Shelley Walker

Let’s find out about the

Ginger Bread Man!Age Group: Level 5.

Summary: Students will investigate the properties of Yeast through the experience of Bread making.

Safety Tips: Cleanliness- 20/20 washing and drying hands. To be prepared in the kitchen area. Awareness of the dangers of temperature when working in a kitchen environment (hot water, oven).

Websites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ub-nvk7qC4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PANmiN6o5-0&feature=PlayList&p=1A8A90570EF105B7&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=11 http://www.bakeinfo.co.nz/cyberguide/PDFs/SCIENCEB.PDF

By Bridget O’Leary and Victoria Stephen.