Preview · the opening missionRead this to the class:
Half of Class 4 was away with a stomach bug. Their teacher put up a sign: WASH YOUR HANDS. Daniel wasn't convinced. "I can't even see anything on my hands," he said. "And I rinse them anyway." His friend Sofia said that rinsing wasn't the same as washing. Daniel said it was close enough. Your team's job: find out how far something on one hand can travel in a class, and test whether a rinse really is close enough.
Teams of four, with four jobs that rotate between parts: Starter (gets the germs first), Timer, Counter (counts glitter under the lamp), Recorder.
Look inside the PDF
Sample pages, stamped “preview”. The download is the clean, full lesson.
In the full lesson PDF
- Predict (5–10 min)
- Hunt (20 min)
- Reveal (10–15 min)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
- Worksheet: Label it
- Worksheet: Try it at home
On the student sheet
- My prediction
- Part A: how far do germs travel?
- Part B: what gets germs off?
- Graph it
- What I found
- Reply to Daniel
- Label it
- Try it at home
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.
Free with an account (any 3 lessons), or US$19 / C$25 for all 4 lessons in this unit.
What students show by the end
- Runs a fair test
- Reads the evidence
- Explains germs
From the lesson’s rubric, which scores each one as not yet, getting there or got it.
Questions teachers ask
How long does “Where do germs hide?” take?
45–60 min. Group size: teams of 4.
How much prep does it need?
15 minutes: mix the 'germs': a spoonful of fine glitter stirred into a tube of clear hand gel or a cup of lotion, one small pot per team. Check that no one in the class has a skin allergy to the gel. Put a desk lamp or a window with strong light where hands can be checked. Set up a sink, or two basins of warm water and a jug, with a bar or pump of ordinary soap and paper towels. Warn the caretaker about glitter.
What materials do I need?
Clear hand gel or plain lotion mixed with fine glitter ('germs'); desk lamp or a sunny window; ordinary soap (bar or pump); basins of warm water and a jug, if there is no sink in the room; paper towels; timer or clock with a second hand; and 1 more. Cost: about $8 for a class of 30.
Which curriculum standards does it cover?
NGSS (US): 3-5-ETS1-3 (partly). It also matches England National Curriculum, Year 2 and Cambridge Primary Science.
What’s in the lesson PDF?
A teacher guide that walks you through predict, hunt, reveal, act, background for the teacher and assessment, then a student sheet (“My prediction”, “Part A: how far do germs travel?”, “Part B: what gets germs off?”, “Graph it”, “What I found”, “Reply to Daniel”, “Label it” and “Try it at home”) on its own page, ready to photocopy. It’s US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. A free account includes any 3 full lessons of your choice, and this can be one of them. After that, this unit is US$19 (C$25) for all 4 lessons, yours to keep, or every lesson is US$79 (C$109) a year.