The flu season is here, with the Centers for Disease Control reporting widespread influenza activity in 23 states. However, if you want to tell people to be careful, stats rarely get the point across. Especially if you’re dealing with kids.
Jaralee Metcalf is a behavioral specialist who works in an autism unit with students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Recently, she and her coworker – special education teacher Dayna Robertson – found an experiment on the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital website, called “How clean are your hands?”
Image credits: Jaralee Annice Metcalf
“We chose this experiment because we had been learning about decaying leaves and mold and flu season was approaching,” Jaralee Metcalf told Bored Panda. “We decided it would be an awesome mold experiment to learn about germs by using moldy bread!”
Together, they put five slices of bread in separate bags. One slice was inserted untouched, another one was touched by kids with unwashed hands, one was touched by kids who washed with soap and water, and one was touched by kids who used hand sanitizer. Finally, they added a slice that they rubbed on the classroom Chromebooks.
Mold started forming on some of the slices in just a couple of days.
The mold that formed from the Chromebooks
Image credits: Jaralee Annice Metcalf
Here’s the untouched slice of bread
Image credits: Jaralee Annice Metcalf
The one that was touched by kids with dirty hands
Image credits: Jaralee Annice Metcalf
The slice that was touched by washed hands
Image credits: Jaralee Annice Metcalf
And the one that was touched by kids who used hand sanitizer
Image credits: Jaralee Annice Metcalf
Metcalf described the experiment in a Facebook post, and it instantly went viral
Image credits: Jaralee Annice Metcalf
Here’s what people said about it
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