Education resources
The Society supports our members working in education and doing education outreach work. We work with the Microbiology in Schools Advisory Committee (MiSAC) to help promote microbiology in schools and support the work of the Royal Society of Biology and others within the scientific community to encourage the study of microbiology at all levels. We have a series of educational microbiology resources to support our members and the community in their education and outreach activities.
- Order by:
- Date
- A-Z
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Basic Practical Microbiology: A Manual
January 2016
This manual, which explains the basic techniques necessary to carry out microbiology experiments safely and effectively, is intended as a guide for teachers and technicians.
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Cold Wars
January 2009
A KS3 & KS4 resource (4 page booklet). Information about the common cold, including a practical activity to model the spread of this viral infection.
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Influenza: A seasonal disease
January 2017
A KS4 & post-16 resource (8 page booklet). This resource gives an overview of the disease, how the infection is transmitted and how vaccines are developed. It also explores the nature of flu epidemics and pandemics.
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Schoolzone: Antibiotics in action
November 2012
Virtually everybody at some point in their life has been prescribed antibiotics by their doctor. These drugs form one of our mainstays in health care against infectious diseases along with vaccination. Interestingly, almost all of these drugs are natural products made by micro-organisms to help them compete in the natural environment. Here, we try to answer some of the most common questions regarding antibiotics.
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Schoolzone: Bacteriophage practical
February 2013
A school-friendly assay using T4 bacteriophage and its host, Escherichia coli.
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Schoolzone: Bioluminescence
November 2014
Centuries ago, in a time of myths of dragons and gods, seafarers and beach dwellers were baffled by the flashes of light and glowing lights seen in oceans all over the world. Today, we now know this is caused by bioluminescence, a chemical emission of light seen across the tree of life, in fish, invertebrates, annelids, arthropods and, most interestingly for us, micro-organisms.
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Schoolzone: Blast a Biofilm – a hands-on activity
May 2013
Blast a Biofilm is an activity developed by Microbiology Society members Victoria Marlow and 2011 Microbiology Outreach Prize Winner Nicola Stanley-Wall (based on an idea by Taryn Kiley) as part of Magnificent Microbes, an event held at Dundee Science Centre in 2010. This hands-on activity was adopted and adapted by the Society’s Education and Outreach Officer for this year’s Big Bang Fair. Here, we explain how it’s done and invite you to have a go!
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Schoolzone: Florence Nightingale – the life and times of the first advocate for good hygiene
August 2011
"It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a hospital that it should do the sick no harm." - Florence Nightingale
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Schoolzone: Fungi in schools – a neglected potential
February 2016
Ten years ago, Moore et al. (2005) concluded that the most likely answer to the question “how much are your children taught about fungi in schools?” was “very little or nothing at all”. They remarked that the word ‘fungus’ did not appear in the then current National Curriculum for England Programme of Study for Science, and although fungi tended to be treated reasonably in the specifications for the GCSE Biology examinations, the references were largely along with bacteria as decomposers without reference to the basic distinction between the two groups.
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Schoolzone: Good bugs, bad bugs
February 2013
A series about microbiology for the UK's only children’s radio station.
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Schoolzone: Life finds a way
May 2016
Concepts around when life evolved, and how life is formed, can be complex for students to understand. These examples of practical activities can be done with students to demonstrate how long microbes have been in existence, and also show how cells assemble, giving both large-scale and small-scale demonstrations of where life comes from.
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Schoolzone: Meet the Microbes
August 2017
Society member, Naomi Chant, has written an e-Book to introduce the public to the world of microbiology and the microbes that surround us. In this article, in her words, she tells us about the book and how she came to develop such an interesting resource.
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Schoolzone: Old School New School
August 2016
Bioinformatics is the method of using computer programming to interpret biological data. The teaching of bioinformatics in schools is becoming an integral part of the curriculum and understanding the evolutionary relationships between species at the genomic level is an important skill. However, the basic process of how these relationships are determined is fundamental in understanding all of these relationships.
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Schoolzone: Predator–prey relationships
February 2014
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and micro-organisms), and the physical and chemical factors that make up its non-living or abiotic environment. Organisms within an ecosystem are connected and interact both with other organisms and their surroundings; these interactions are a vital part of how organisms develop overtime. A change in the size of one population affects all other organisms within the ecosystem and this is demonstrated most clearly by the predator–prey relationship where the predator (the hunter) feeds on its prey (the hunted).
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Schoolzone: Standing up for Science
February 2013
Young scientists often forget how uniquely qualified they are to comment and offer their opinions on poorly performed research and suspicious scientific claims. The Standing up for Science workshop for early career researchers, held on November 16th at the University of Glasgow, sought to remedy that situation.
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Schoolzone: The nitrogen cycle
May 2012
Various processes are responsible for recycling the chemicals necessary for life on Earth. The nitrogen cycle is the most complex of these. Carbon, sulfur and phosphorus are the other main cycles.