Extremophiles in My Backyard? Enhancing Analytical and Math Skills with a Simple Enquiry Based Lab

 

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2014, Volume 35

Lakshmi Chilukuri & Lorlina Almazan

Abstract

What lives in compost? What survives extreme conditions like hydrothermal vents? We harness that curiosity in a guided inquiry‐based laboratory exercise that promotes critical analysis and reinforces math skills. In this authentic research students explore the relationship between physicochemical characteristics and diverse microbial community of a natural environment. Using selective and differential media, dilution, viable counts, and the scientific method they enrich thermophiles from compost. In collaborative exercises, they collect, evaluate, and analyze numerical data, and present their findings in scientific format. This flexible, easily adaptable model has proven to be invaluable in contextualizing science in our classrooms

Keywords:  critical thinking skills, Extremophiles, thermophiles, authentic research, math skills, compost

University of Calgary (2013)