Teacher+notes

__//ENGAGE// The video introduces students to the bio engineering process of fermentation.__ I would begin this lesson by bringing cucumbers to class with me. Then I would begin a class discussion about how people have been preserving food for many years, and how the process of fermentation is one of the most important chemical methods of preserving food worldwide. We would discuss how people have been preserving food by canning and fermenting. Fermentation is the process of cultivating an environment in which “good microorganisms” like some type of bacteria can survive and flourish.Canning on the other hand is the process of thoroughly sterilizing food so that no microorganism will survive.Then I would ask them if anyone has made pickles at home, or helped to make them. Then I would ask them to name some of the ingredients that they put into the cucumbers. I hope that they would know that microorganisms are the main factors in the production of fermentation of cucumber or pickles. If none of the students mention that, I would bring that up myself. After we discuss that for a few minutes, I would show them the short video at the link below of ( [|//Alton Brown shows how to make refrigerator pickles//- In a pickle-)] then I will tell them that next we are going to do a fermentation activity where using cucumbers Fermentation activity is in the Explore part of the lesson plan