Biology Class—Fungi Part 1

The experiments we did last week in biology class involved observing Basidiomycota (mushrooms, puffballs, and shelf fungi) and Zygomycota (bread and fruit mold). The students were instructed to bring in fungi and molds for us to look at with magnifying glasses and the microscope. Unfortunately, the weather has been very dry here lately, so the students had a hard time finding the fungi. All we had were a couple examples of shelf fungi and a portabella mushroom from the grocery store to examine. They did bring some “lovely” and aromatic samples of mold, though—growing on bread, cantaloupe, apple, and grapefruit.

I noticed that all the kids are getting better at writing up lab reports, making slides, and using the microscope.