Science: Micro-organisms

Whilst studying ‘Living Things and their Habitats’ in science, 6C and 6S have studied whether or not micro-organisms are living things. We learnt that yeast consumes sugar and gives off carbon dioxide. To test this, we mixed yeast, sugar and warm water to create a reaction that should release carbon dioxide and consequently inflate the balloon. After each 5 minute interval, we noticed the balloon inflating. We even left it over night to see if it remained inflated. We learnt it deflated - air could have escaped or the reaction had completed. Take a look at the photos below!

Try it home using the information below:

In the second part of the lesson, we focused on the fungus, mould. We knew that mould grows on food and we learned that tiny cells of mould are called spores. Mould spores live in the air all the time but when the mould spores land on food, they grow and thrive by feeding off it.

We worked in groups to plan an experiment that would investigate the condition in which mould would grow. Each group is testing a different variable such as temperature, access to light, touched or untouched and even dry or damp! We will continue to observe the bread over the coming days to see what grows!