Watson Elementary’s Mrs. Rita Evanson put her third grade students’ cleanliness to the test with a germ lab on Friday, Jan. 27. Thanks to the help of Evanson's microbiologist husband and donations from Silliker Laboratories, students were able to see their lesson come to life.
“The supplies are donated from a business called Silliker Laboratories. It’s about $300 worth of supplies. My husband is a microbiologist who is a consultant with them, and they have donated the supplies for the past 8 years,” Evanson said.
There were multiple experiments within this lab, including testing the germs on the children's hands before and after being freshly washed and swabbing items around the school and in the classroom.
“My favorite part was when we got to swab the stuff around the building. I thought it was fun, and it was kind of gross,” third-grader Diane Jefferies said.
Prior to this lab, the students have spent class time learning about chronic and communicable diseases and how germs spread.
“The chronic diseases are ones that you are born with, but you can’t catch them from people or you just get them, but communicable diseases you can catch from food, people or animals. Today I learned that germs can be everywhere,” third-grader Grace Marksteiner said.
To finish off the lab, Evanson asked her students what studies have shown to be the top two germiest items, to which they promptly responded: purses and cell phones. Gross!