www.e-bug.eu

Introduction

Public Health England (PHE) has produced a series of resourced lessons intended to support schools in delivery of aspects of microbiology, including infection, prevention and control, to Key Stages 3 and 4 (ages 11-14 and 14-16). These resources include detailed teacher refresher information and content for nine 50-minute lessons, with lesson plans, worksheets, suggested extension activities and some suggested practical work.  The resources cover a wide range of content, including using microbes, preventing transmission, STIs and modelling vaccine-based herd immunity, to name a few. The resources suggest that teachers can use the material as an entire unit of work, or as standalone episodes. Some aspects of these lesson plans and resources are excellent and could easily be deployed as individual lessons, or as episodes to enhance existing schemes of learning beyond Health, disease and the development of medicines in the National Curriculum. For example, portions of the Key Stage 4 lesson 2, Useful Microbes, could be delivered to enhance learning when covering genetically modified organisms. There are similar opportunities throughout the resources. One of the key appeals is the inclusion of some novel practicals that are beyond typical scope, which provide interesting opportunities for students with supporting worksheets that give opportunity to develop practical skills, including recording and analysing data.

Key Stage 3

Teaching resources

These cover a wide range of knowledge linked to microbes, some of which falls in line with the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum for Science. While there is little reference to curricula for other nations, a brief investigation suggests that a proportion of the content will fall in line with the curricula for science learning in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The resources also reference the English and PSHE national curriculam, and could also be seen to refer to areas of the maths and Design Technology national curricula too.

Experienced teachers will be able to successfully make use of these lesson plans, and will likely start by reframing sharper lesson objectives more suitable for students to help them to measure their understanding. All the objectives throughout the resources are ‘understand’ or ‘know’ types, which teachers and students may not find particularly useful as they do not utilise Bloom’s taxonomy, therefore minimising student understanding of their own progression. Using command words linked to Bloom’s such as ‘recall’, ‘identify’, ‘describe’, ‘suggest’ and ‘explain’ would significantly improve current objectives.

Most of the resources will suit students of a range of learning styles and abilities. There is evidence of mapping through Key Stages 1 to 4 (age 5-16), although it would be better if this was more explicit and went beyond to Key Stage 5 (age 16-19) as some of the content already does. The science content is generally sound, with minor inaccuracies. Some of the lesson content is challenging, not least in terms of content but also new vocabulary, for example when labelling and naming parts of viruses, bacteria and fungi, which go beyond what would be expected at Key Stage 4.

Seasoned teachers will navigate the more challenging content and will be able to make discerning judgements about deferring or moving content as appropriate for their classes. For example, the STIs lesson would be best left until the end of Key Stage 3 once students have a broader understanding of the key vocabulary and mechanisms of sex. This will also likely tie in well with PSHE syllabuses. It is likely that trainee teachers or NQTs will need support or access to collaborative planning prior to use for effective implementation of these lesson plans, as they are sparse in places, with minimal assessment of students’ prior understanding. These resources are not ‘grab and go’.

This resources best suit standalone lessons or lesson episodes so to enhance aspects of existing schemes of learning. This is largely because the resources rely on existing prior knowledge, the delivery of which will differ between settings.

Student resources

The resources have a range of materials supporting each lesson, which are suitable for student use either electronically or in printed form. These are engaging and well constructed, with various activities such as a ‘top trump’-style game, ‘microbe mayhem’, modelling herd immunity, multiple-choice quizzes and student-friendly practical worksheets with prompts for data recording and analysis. Some are differentiated, though this largely seems to be the same worksheet with some answers as prompts. Most of the resources come with some answers to support marking or peer/self-assessment.

Some consideration should be given to font and background colour to ensure accessibility for dyslexic users, though there is the suggestion that resources are editable, which should allow teachers to support students.

Overall, the student resources are varied and give opportunity for some elements of independence and agency. There are occasions when activities are not mentioned in the lesson plan, e.g. HPV resources or where the lesson plan, objectives and materials don’t align fully. Teachers wanting to engage AFL techniques can utilise the multiple-choice questions, but will need to edit prior to use to ensure appropriate challenge and reflection on lesson content, both of which are not quite in line currently.

Practical elements

These are detailed as part of the lesson plans, with some being quite novel and beyond the usual remit of Key Stage 3 practicals, which is a great way to enhance schemes of learning: for example, making yogurt to show how useful microbes can be. The other practical activities in this resource are a traditional comparison of clean/dirty hands using nutrient agar plates, modelling transmission (specifically STIs) with starch and iodine, and the less traditional recreation of a giant sneeze. One of the extension activities suggests preparing, heat-fixing and staining a slide, which is considered more suitable for Key Stage 4. There are also missed opportunities for developing numeracy skills throughout the resources.

There are also missed practical opportunities; for example, during lesson 1 it might be useful to swab high traffic areas in the science lab/classroom and inoculate nutrient agar plates. This would help support the idea that microbes can be found everywhere, encourage differentiation between bacterial and fungal colonies and introduce a discussion about why we can’t see viral growth on nutrient agar. There would also be a suitable opportunity during the Treatment of Infection lesson to observe the effect of various antimicrobials/antibiotics on the growth of a bacterial lawn.

Some examples of results are given, which is helpful particularly if there are practical constraints in school settings. Whilst the instructions are relatively clear, there is very little reference to safety beyond the need for gloves/aprons. This is concerning. CLEAPSS should be consulted and guidance such as making yogurt in a food room or wearing eye protection when handling iodine should be made explicit throughout.

Key Stage 4

Teaching resources

In terms of style and layout, the Key Stage 4 resources are very similar those for Key Stage 3. There is clear design continuity, which is useful for student engagement in further learning as they move through school. The structure ties both sets of resources together well.

Much of what has been mentioned previously applies to these resources too. More experienced teachers will be able to modify and utilise appropriate aspects, including rephrasing learning objectives so that they are more appropriate. Less experienced teachers will need support in successful use of these resources. However, the outbreak activity is excellent and would work very well as a class activity that could be developed by teachers at any stage of their career.

Again, this resource will suit students of a range of learning styles and abilities, though the lesson plans rely heavily on whole-class discussion or teacher talk. There is evidence of mapping, although it would be better if this were more explicit and went to Key Stage 5 and beyond, with an opportunity to include career possibilities. The science content is generally sound. Some of the lesson content is challenging, not least in terms of new knowledge but also new vocabulary; for example, lesson 7 Infection, Prevent and Control goes well beyond the expected scope of Key Stage 4 understanding of immunity and would therefore be suitable for stretch and challenge of the most able of students.

Student resources

In a similar vein as for Key Stage 3, the Key Stage 4 materials are engaging and well constructed for student use. In particular, lesson 3 Harmful Microbes has well-organised resources to support learning and developing skills to ensure useful focused research using textbooks or the Internet. The resources that support lesson 8 Treatment of infection are excellent, and allow students to step into a clinical role using data from observing zones of inhibition to make a judgement about the best antibiotic to prescribe for patients. There are missed numeracy aspects here. The other resources have a range of activities such as poster-making, filling out the blank, microbe mayhem game, quizzes and matching diseases. These have potential for use both electronically and in printed form.

Some of the resources are differentiated and most have answers and expected results available for teacher use. Lesson 6 STIs shows clear Key Stage 3 progression and would build on prior knowledge in an eloquent, coherent and useful way. It would be useful if the other lessons in this resource were mapped through in a similar manner to support learning.

There are several aspects of similarity between the Key Stage 3 and 4 resources, including the teacher refresher information and duplicated resources. Some questions should be asked about the duplication of activities between the key stages, starting with: does this suitably challenge the most able at grade 9 GCSE? Whilst some areas of the Key Stage 4 resource show suitable depth and challenge beyond expectation, the suitability of some materials at Key Stage 4 should be queried, for example, the ‘microbe mayhem’ game. Would this serve better as a revision resource? To this end, the learning objectives need to be more carefully considered alongside the application of activities, as they don’t currently match in some cases.

Practical elements

Like the Key Stage 3 resource, the practical elements are included within the lesson plans alongside relevant resources, with space for students to exercise their ‘how science works’ skills, recording data and making conclusions in a meaningful way.

There are two particularly novel pieces of practical work: one looking at chain of infection using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the other modelling the effects of antibiotics using phenol red and dilutions of hydrochloric acid to simulate zones of inhibition. Students will find these engaging and interesting, not least as they give opportunity to mimic microbial lab work and also because they can use their results to draw conclusions, although it should be made clear that no antibiotics are used in case of allergies, to avoid worrying students. It would also be beneficial to consider making careers links more explicit, particularly in Key Stage 4.

There is reasonable distribution of practical work, though there is less than in the Key Stage 3 resources. There might be some aspects of this that schools find hard to manage, e.g. having sufficient petri dishes or an autoclave, although experienced technicians and teachers will be able to plan for these suitably. There is a potential missed opportunity during lesson 2 Useful Microbes where the students could use a food room to observe fermentation in the making of bread, ginger beer, kombucha or even kimchi to support student understanding.

Whilst the instructions are relatively clear, there is minimal reference to safety. CLEAPSS must be referred to, particularly with focus on safe microbiological practices (e.g. how to seal an agar plate, incubation temperature, plate disposal, etc.). This information should be made explicit throughout.

Conclusion

Many aspects of this resource are first rate, not least the scope of student resources, which are user-friendly and clearly organised, likely leading to positive ‘takeaway’ notes. The teaching resources include answers and expected results, which are always helpful for teachers and students alike. It’s evident that the order of lessons has been considered carefully and that there has been consideration of context to support students in developing their understanding of the world of microbes. The resources fall down in their consideration of effective delivery, including meaningful lesson objectives that students can use, range of pedagogical practice and lack of CLEAPSS consultation. Experienced teachers will likely overcome these shortfalls, though those starting on their teaching journey will need support in successful use. Refinement is needed to ensure that these resources meet their potential.