Icky Sticky Fingers #3 UPDATE

I am seriously excited about this experiment. I love the fact that we used a nutrient agar and petri dishes (it's so sciencey and introduces young kids to the science equipment that scientists use all of the time). I'm also loving this experiment because of the awesome results that I am getting. Check out the collage below!

The top pictures show the clean hand petri dishes, while the bottom pictures show the dirty hand petri dishes. All petri dishes, except for the control, have bacterial growth on them, but the dirty hand petri dishes have much more. I could look at those petri dishes forever; they are absolutely fascinating. The dirty ones have formed this film on the top that resembles plastic wrap. All of the agar is now liquified (except for the control) due to bacterial growth (and what's even better, there is no smell). This is such a great turn out, especially after the trouble I experienced in the beginning (all I had to do was move them inside to a slightly cooler spot, yet warm enough for bacterial growth). Total amount of time needed for this type of bacterial growth: 3 DAYS!!! Fast, cheap, and great results...three elements of a successful classroom experiment.