Grow an Apple Fungus

Categories: Food Science , Spanish , Science

Students grow mold on apple slices to simulate fungus diseases that attack apple trees. Students apply various “treatments” to apple slices, hypothesize which places and treatments are ideal for growing molds, and observe and name the molds like a plant pathologist

• Separate students into groups.
• Give each group a few slices of apple and a Ziploc bag.
• Have students give their apple slices the “treatment” you have labeled on their Ziploc bag. These treatments include: licking the apple slice; wiping unwashed hands on the apple slice; wiping it with washed hands; rubbing the slice on the floor or their shoe; coughing on the slices. Add other “treatments” you and your students can imagine.
• After the apple slices have been treated, seal the bags tightly.
• Have the other apple slices with no treatment sealed in bags.
• These will be the control samples.