Because the students at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School come from a variety of backgrounds, the unit will begin with a brainstorming and question and answer session to assess students' prior knowledge of microorganisms. Open ended questions such as: What is a Microbiologist? What are germs? What are microbes? Can bacteria be good for you? What living things are helpful to people? How are microbes helpful to the Earth? Where can we find the smallest living things? Have you ever eaten bacteria? Have you ever eaten Fungi? Etc.
Students will be given a Science Journal where they can record everything including class notes, lab observations, questions, independent research and illustrations. It will be set up in a similar format as the interactive notebooks that they use for each academic subject. The interactive notebook utilizes a right brain/left brain approach to gathering information. In the open notebook the page to the left is for illustrations, 3-D vocabulary inserts, charts and graphs, while the page on the right side is for basic facts, and linear style note taking. The notebook is an ongoing tool in the classroom containing a Table of Contents, Vocabulary Lists, Formulas and References to sources of information (Gannon 2010), (Squidoo 2010).