Microbes & Cells
These are tiny living organisms, often made of one cell, that can only be seen with a microscope.
What are microorganisms (or microbes)?
When harmful bacteria take over the gut, symptoms that can cause one to run to the toilet.
What is diarrhea?
A meidcal procedure that adds adds healthy bacteria to a patient’s gut to restore balance.
What is a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) or fecal transplant?
The statement that answers the scientific question in a CER.
What is the claim?
These particles can only reproduce by invading a host cell.
What are viruses?
This is the smallest unit that can be said to be alive.
What is a cell?
Healthy bacteria help keep this harmful bacteria from growing too much in the gut.
What is C. difficile?
Scientists use these small animals to study the effects of gut bacteria in experiments.
What are mice?
The scientific data that supports your claim.
What is the evidence?
Viruses do not have these energy-making structures found in living cells.
What are mitochondria?
This word describes organisms made up of only one cell.
What is unicellular?
These diagrams show the relative proportions of bacteria species in the microbiome.
What are pie charts?
This treatment kills both good and bad bacteria in a paitents gut microbiome and can leave them vulerable to infections.
The part of a CER that explains why the evidence supports the claim.
What is the reasoning?
A process of getting bigger; they are built fully formed inside host cells.
What is growth (the characteristic they lack)?
These microorganisms live inside and on the human body and help keep us healthy.
What is the microbiome?
This specific bacteria helps the gut produce immune cells.
What is B. fragilis?
A fecal transplant can cure this infection that resists antibiotic treatment.
What is a C. difficile infection?
This type of classroom discussion encourages students to defend their claims using evidence and reasoning.
What is a scientific argument or debate?
This is one characteristic of life that viruses do show because they can mutate over time.
What is adaptation (or evolution)?
These are the two main types of cells that make up living organisms.
What are prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?
This specific bacteria helps increase mucus production in the intestines.
What is L. reuteri?
The patient’s microbiome becomes healthier when this happens to harmful bacteria populations.
What is when harmful bacteria decrease and beneficial bacteria increase?
This is the process of connecting multiple groups’ evidence to build one strong, class-wide CER.
What is collaboration (or evidence exchange)?
Scientists debate whether viruses are alive because they only meet this one characteristic of life.
What is the ability to adapt/evolve?