Fermentation
In this activity, students set up an alcoholic fermentation, prepare and view a slide of bacteria responsible for monolactate fermentation and answer questions about a video clip on gut bacteria fermentation.
Function of the large intestine
Dr Juliet Ansell is a Science Group Leader at Plant & Food Research, Palmerston North. Juliet gives a brief outline of the functions of the large intestine and then describes the key role gut bacteria play in fermenting fibre into useful products. Mention is also made of the huge number of nerve cells present in the gut and role they play.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
explain the meaning of the terms ‘aerobic’ and ‘anaerobic
describe the bacterial fermentation process used in yoghurt production
describe the yeast (fungal) fermentation process used in wine making
describe the bacterial fermentation process that occurs in the part of the human gut known as the large intestine
demonstrate a basic understanding of some of the gut bacteria research being conducted by scientists at Plant & Food Research.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
introduction/background notes
what you need
what to do
student worksheets.
Related content
In Gut bacteria and health find out more about Plant & Food Research’s human gut health programme and the research that aims to better understand the interactions that go on between food, gut bacteria and health.
It has been estimated that there are more bacteria in the large intestine than there are cells in the body. Maintaining a healthy bacterial population in the large intestine plays a key role our sense of wellbeing. Use our article Healthy gut bacteria to explore this further.
Activity ideas
Find out more about making ginger beer from traditional recipes on the Hub and use this unit plan to get your class to test some recipes. This class case study investigates the effectiveness of this teaching unit plan.
Fermentation is one of the earliest examples of biotechnology – sourdough is a slow-fermented bread and is one of the oldest types of bread.
