{"id":10484,"date":"2020-08-04T12:57:30","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T17:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=10484"},"modified":"2025-01-21T15:39:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T21:39:33","slug":"grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"Grow your own germs with this at-home STEAM lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Looking for more STEAM?<\/p>\n

Find classes<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Staying home. Wearing masks. The back and forth over whether school will be in person or virtual again this year \u2013 and whether sports will happen at all.<\/p>\n

A lot is changing for your kids, and with something as small as a virus, it might be hard for them to see why.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we\u2019re afraid of what we can\u2019t see and we don\u2019t understand it,\u201d said Shannon Egli, anatomical coordinator for Jump Simulation.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Egli put together another Jump STEAM at Home<\/a> experiment your kids can do to learn more about how viruses like the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are spread<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a way of actually seeing what things are and understanding where they are around you, and then you can better control the situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Germs and microbes<\/h2>\n

\"6-year-oldIn this experiment, you and your kid can test exactly how microbes grow and how the spread of germs can be slowed.<\/p>\n

Using cheese, bread or a homemade Petri dish, you can test any number of hypotheses \u2013 does wearing a mask reduce the spread of germs? Are fewer germs spread when you wash your hands with soap and water or when you use hand sanitizer?<\/p>\n

Download Instructions<\/a><\/p>\n

What it all means<\/h2>\n

There is increasing evidence that cloth face coverings help prevent people who have COVID-19<\/a> from spreading the virus to others.\u00a0Egli agrees. When it comes to mask wearing, this experiment is a lesson for everyone to take to heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the masks make a difference. It\u2019s kind of like not smoking and wearing shoes in a store. It\u2019s just one of those basic courtesies to the other people around you, not just because of you. The whole world doesn\u2019t revolve around just this person. We are wearing masks because we\u2019re protecting other people around us, not just us,\u201d Egli said.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve seen how germs grow, Egli hopes it will be easier to see how you can stop the spread with three simple steps: washing your hands<\/a>, watching your distance and wearing a mask<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn how microbes grow – and how the spread of germs can be slowed – with the help of Jump Simulation STEAM instructors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":10493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[969,355,116],"tags":[972,485,974,341,971],"coauthors":[681],"class_list":["post-10484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-innovation","category-pediatrics","tag-download","tag-education","tag-infection-prevention","tag-jump-simulation","tag-steam"],"yoast_head":"\nGrow your own germs with this at-home STEAM lesson<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how microbes grow - and how the spread of germs can be slowed - with the help of Jump Simulation STEAM instructors.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grow your own germs with this at-home STEAM experiment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn how microbes grow - and how the spread of germs can be slowed - with the help of Jump Simulation STEAM instructors.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OSF HealthCare Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-04T17:57:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-21T21:39:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katie Whitt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Grow your own germs with this at-home STEAM experiment\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Learn how microbes grow - and how the spread of germs can be slowed - with the help of Jump Simulation STEAM instructors.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katie Whitt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/\",\"name\":\"Grow your own germs with this at-home STEAM lesson\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-04T17:57:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-21T21:39:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2005b4d7e6476ca7cc67b6bfc7604b14\"},\"description\":\"Learn how microbes grow - and how the spread of germs can be slowed - with the help of Jump Simulation STEAM instructors.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"6 year old child labels petri dish for germ experiment\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Grow your own germs with this at-home STEAM lesson\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"OSF HealthCare Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2005b4d7e6476ca7cc67b6bfc7604b14\",\"name\":\"Katie Whitt\",\"description\":\"Katie Whitt is the content manager for OSF HealthCare, where she has worked since January 2016. Originally from Valparaiso, Indiana, she came to Peoria to earn her Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Bradley University. Before joining OSF, she worked as a copy editor for both the Peoria Journal Star and The Bloomington Pantagraph. In her spare time, Katie enjoys traveling, reading anything she can get her hands on and spending shameful amounts of time watching Netflix. She justifies her couch time with kickboxing and running.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/kwhitt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Grow your own germs with this at-home STEAM lesson","description":"Learn how microbes grow - and how the spread of germs can be slowed - with the help of Jump Simulation STEAM instructors.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Grow your own germs with this at-home STEAM experiment","og_description":"Learn how microbes grow - and how the spread of germs can be slowed - with the help of Jump Simulation STEAM instructors.","og_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/","og_site_name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare","article_published_time":"2020-08-04T17:57:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-21T21:39:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Katie Whitt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Grow your own germs with this at-home STEAM experiment","twitter_description":"Learn how microbes grow - and how the spread of germs can be slowed - with the help of Jump Simulation STEAM instructors.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg","twitter_creator":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_site":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katie Whitt","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/","name":"Grow your own germs with this at-home STEAM lesson","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg","datePublished":"2020-08-04T17:57:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-21T21:39:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2005b4d7e6476ca7cc67b6bfc7604b14"},"description":"Learn how microbes grow - and how the spread of germs can be slowed - with the help of Jump Simulation STEAM instructors.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"6 year old child labels petri dish for germ experiment"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/grow-your-own-germs-with-this-at-home-steam-lesson\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Grow your own germs with this at-home STEAM lesson"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/","name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2005b4d7e6476ca7cc67b6bfc7604b14","name":"Katie Whitt","description":"Katie Whitt is the content manager for OSF HealthCare, where she has worked since January 2016. Originally from Valparaiso, Indiana, she came to Peoria to earn her Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Bradley University. Before joining OSF, she worked as a copy editor for both the Peoria Journal Star and The Bloomington Pantagraph. In her spare time, Katie enjoys traveling, reading anything she can get her hands on and spending shameful amounts of time watching Netflix. She justifies her couch time with kickboxing and running.","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/kwhitt\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Gary Horrie","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lilycrossettlabelspetridishes.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10484"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18909,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10484\/revisions\/18909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10484"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=10484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}