As I mentioned, I spent yesterday morning talking microbiology to a bunch of 3, 4, and 5 year olds in my son's preschool class. It was fun, actually--I took along a prepared slide to show them some bacteria under the microscope, and then took a scraping from my son's tongue and Gram-stained it to show them a more realistic bacterial sample (a mixed sample of Gram negatives and positives of different shapes). I also passed around some pictures of bacteria and viruses.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I'm used to giving lectures and talking science with high-schoolers and college-age adults, but besides my own kids, I've not talked much science with the Spongebob set. Their reactions below...
I ended up talking for about 20 minutes--part of it discussing what "germs" were, where they are in the body, why it's important to wash your hands, etc., and the rest of it having them come up and look in the microscope and ask questions. The Q&A part was pretty funny. Some samples:
"Where do you buy the gloves from?" (I passed around a few latex gloves--I think these were a bigger hit than the microscope)
"Do they make gloves for kids?"
"Can you tie my shoe for me?"
"What do germs eat?"
"Are you a doctor?"
"Why does this germ [E. coli] have a tail? Do all germs have tails?"
"If Zavier has germs on his tongue, why isn't he sick?"
"Do you know my mom?" (Several kids had parents who work at the University)
"Do scientists have to go to school for, like, a really long time?"
It was a lot of fun--they drew pictures of germs (and gloves!) for me later in the afternoon and sent them home with my son as a thank-you.
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Tara writes:
Spongebob is fine TV for kids of all ages, from four to fourty-something. :)
Well you can't blow up a microscope like a balloon and squeeze the fingers as if they were udders...nor can you fill a microscope with a whole gallon of water before it breaks.
Not that I would do any such thing!
Kids this age have a tremendous ability to grasp even fairly arcane technical ideas. Certainly moreso than their parents, who tend to be more ossified in their views.
We may have seen the emergence of a budding aetiologist in those ranks.
Or not.
No matter what science you show kids... nothing beats gloves!
P.S.: I'm digging the new banner!
From my own small sample of young science learners, the interest in the microscopic world kicks up a few levels of magnitude around first grade. The favorite fact is that there are good germs as well as sick-making ones. (Of course, in recent days, this has led to offers like, "Mommy, let me cough some good germs on you to help fight the bad ones.") Also popular: the image of white blood cells as voracious eaters.
Nice work, I teach high school but I am terrified of grade school kids. You rock doc!
Too cute! And hey, I'm a doctoral candidate and I think gloves are more fun than microscopes! (Though I'm willing to concede that it may be because I don't use a microscope in my line of science and I would otherwise be enthralled.)
By the way, how did you answer some of them, like "What do germs eat?"
For that one I said "lots of things," and focused on the oral bacteria that "eat" sugar, but told them bacteria can eat almost anything, from rocks to tires. For the "tail" question, I talked about how bacteria can "swim" using their tails, and others have "tails" that let them stick to things. And then, as Janet mentioned, we discussed "good" versus "bad" bacteria when they asked how Zavier (that would be my son) has bacteria on his tongue, but he's not sick. I also tried to distinguish between being a "doctor" (as in, physician) versus "doctor" (as in, PhD), but I'm not sure they got that one. Either way, I said I couldn't give them medicines or fix their broken bones, so I think they sort-of got the gist.
Kids that age are great aren't they.
They are so inquisitive it make me thaink we are born as scientists - but some of us get it taught out of us :) !!
Cool, thanks for answering :). (It was as much for my own edification as out of curiosity about your experience in a preschool environment -- I don't do anything related to infectious disease.)
Tara,
Way, way cool post.
I've been diligently dragging my 2-year old to science museums, zoos and aquariums around home (the Bay Area), and wondered how much he could really grasp, but given your account, I'll start giving him context as well as letting him look at the pretty fishies.
This might be as good a time as any to ask a burning question of mine.
Are anti-bacterial soaps good or bad? My wife has been buying them for some time now. I have been telling her they only end up making the bacteria resistant to yet another defense and with no observed daily health benefit.
Viruses are nearly the only infectious agents that routinely impact us in our home. Well, zits do occasionally cause some angst, but...
What keeps this in mind is that our hospital cafeteria supplies the meals I deliver to others, and every time I see these posters showing hands covered in images of bacteria. Along with these there are sanitiser stations scattered through the hallways where one is encouraged to use the antibacterial dispenser.
Who is right, me or the hospital? Are they guaranteeing that they are going to have to find new antibacterials on a continuing basis?
Let me guess, people working in pathogen labs use antibacterials every time they leave, at least.
What, me fret?
Johnnie, most anti-bacterial soaps don't work because they don't have enough agent in them or people don't wash their hands long enough. However, the alcohol based hand sanitizers do work. My high school AP Biology class did a test of this using soil bacteria. The alcohol sanitizer was as effective as soap that doctors use when they wash to go to surgery or something.
My favourite one from visiting my nephew's pre-school as a grad student:
Child: What grade are you in:?
Me: I'm in grade 20
I loved this account by an experienced educator about the first time with 7-year olds. It is funny. And true.
I did this once. My favorite question was when shown a scanning electron micrograph of a bacterial cell which had been colorized, I was asked, "Why do the bacteria look like Barney?"
JohnnieCanuck,
(Tara, I realize this is off-topic, but I can't really let it go)
The best hand cleaning method is soap and water. If you can't do that, then alcohol-based hand cleaners are good. Using 'antibacterial' soaps that contain triclosan are a really bad idea: they select for antibiotic resistant bacteria. The only people who should use antibacterial handwashes are medical personnel in hospital settings who can't wash with soap and water (e.g., making rounds), or people who are immunocompromised. Triclosan is the first line of defense against hospital acquired infections (which the CDC estimates kill ~90,000 people/year); don't waste its efficacy if you don't need to use it.
We're walking out the door to drive to my son's preschool last week -- he's four and a half -- and he looks at me completely out of the blue and says "if there's skin between my eyes, how come I only see one thing?" I got so caught up trying to explain binocular vision that I missed the turn to school and had to backtrack two miles....