On Thursday 27th June, I went to the University of Otago for the Year 11 Science MIcrobiology workshops. The laboratories are open to school groups as the University students are on holiday. With another school, we learnt all about different bacteria, viruses and fungi. I visited different sections in the lab and I was taking notes when I was learning and looking down microscopes. They had things that I did not know and I learnt about all the microbiology in foods such as cheese, beer and vegemite. 

After a short break, I prepared a slide of pond water and saw some Paramecium and algae. I then prepared a slide of my teeth scraping and looked down the microscope at my bacteria.

The thing that I enjoyed most was looking down the really good microscopes and winning a pen for answering a question. The thing I found most surprising was that I have useful bacteria all around my body. We were told we are 90% bacteria and 10% human. 

I had a good time and learnt lots of things.

by Kyle Rate

Microscope photo of a ‘textbook quality slide’ of cheek cells and bacteria prepared by Lauren Grant. Each division on the scale is 1μm: