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Science is often stranger than fiction.
Have your pupils heard about the green
luminous fish fingers found at the
back of a student fridge? Well, that
story is often true! The glow is caused
by luminous bacteria commonly found
on rotting seafood. Ghostly glowing
fish like this provided a clue that
led to the discovery of bacterial
language in the 1990's. Bacteria,
even those of different species, communicate
with each other, and decoding their
communication (dubbed 'quorum-sensing')
is now a hot research topic around
the world. It has major implications
for our understanding and treatment
of disease, and for enzyme and antibiotic
production.
Two simple, inexpensive, practical
activities are described here. In
the first, pupils can cultivate glowing
bacteria. In the second, one species
tells another to turn a bright purple
and it does! These activities can
be used to enrich the curriculum for
younger and older pupils alike as:
- A practical activity during microbe
study.
- A science fair or science club
activity.
Biotechnology is a high profile,
contemporary area of science which
pupils find interesting due to the
impact it has on their everyday lives.
For 'Who am I?' ASE collaborated
with the National Centre for Biotechnology
Education (NCBE) and Science and Plants
for Schools (SAPS) to provide a simple
and inexpensive protein electrophoresis
kit to compare proteins in different
KS3 contexts. Cost, perceived complexity
and lack of relevance to KS3 curriculum
have been cited as reasons for the
lack of practical biotechnology work
at KS3. This resource is designed
to overcome these difficulties, and
two stimulating activities are provided
for pupils to explore protein electrophoresis.
The NCBE is managing the design,
production and distribution of the
resource.
Full order details for the kit, which
includes all materials to get started
and how to source replacement consumables,
is available on their website.
Pupil, teacher and technician resource
sheets for the electrophoresis kit
were published on the 'Who am I?'
CD ROM. They can also be found, together
with additional information and updates,
on the NCBE and SAPS websites:
www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk
www-saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk
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