Genius Teacher’s ‘Bread Trick’ Shows Kids Why They Need To Wash Hands, And It’s Disgustingly Brilliant
As kids, our parents drill it into our brains. As adults, we see it posted near bathroom mirrors everywhere. We’re constantly reminded of the importance of washing our hands, yet sometimes we still ask ourselves if it’s really such a big deal. One teacher has come up with a brilliant, albeit slightly nauseating experiment that shows the potency of germs in full view, and it just might save a few sinuses this flu season.
Courtney Lee Simpson, a teacher from Tennessee, presented her class with 3 slices of bread. They placed one in a plastic baggy using gloves, the other with freshly washed hands, and sealed up the final one after passing it around to every student in the room – therefore making it ‘dirty.’ When the students came back to check on the bread a few days later, the evidence was more than clear.
Scroll down to see the ‘bread trick’ for yourself, and share this with someone you know who might be slacking on their hand washing!
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Share on FacebookI see the point of this exercise, and it is clever. However, we as a society have become so germophobic as to prevent the process of the body's ability to build up a natural resistance through gradual exposure.
For some reason I read "germophobic" as "disliking people from Germany" at first...
Load More Replies...Illustrative BUT the difference between between "newly washed" and "unwashed" is a bit askew. By a factor around 20. A more correct result would be "1: pass a slice around, unwashed hands" and then let the whole class wash hands and then "2: pass a slice aruond, newly washed hands".
Humans Carry More Bacterial Cells than Human Ones. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-humans-carry-more-bacterial-cells-than-human-ones/
Load More Replies...This is bad science. The first two samples were handled by one person apiece, but the third slice of bread was handled by the whole class. Also, bread needs no handling to be contaminated with mold spores. Plus, bread contaminated with mold spores is not harmful to eat in the least - they die in the stomach.
When I was in second grade, my teacher was older than dirt (so to speak). One day she handed out toothpicks to every child. Then she told us to use the toothpicks to clean underneath our fingernails, letting the crud from underneath them collect on our desks. After we were all done, we each had an impressive pile of crud on our desks. Then she directed us to "Eat that pile of crud!" We all looked at each other, shocked! "Eeeew! No!!!" we were all screeching! She then wisely told us, "That is what you are eating when you bite your fingernails." It really made an impression on us!
Stella, thank you for contacting Donna about her post. Thank you Donna Gill Allen for reposting my original pictures/experiment that my 2nd graders did. You helped make it go viral:) Well, you made it go viral. I initiated this experiment as a LTI. My students used inquiry skills to determine importance of hand washing. This is something we graphed and documented in our journals. Thank you so much for sharing all the way from FL to NC!
Stuff like this is frustrating to me because only half of the story is being told here and I hope this teacher is not teaching science or physiology because it shows how much they don't know. Probably a good object lesson because so many people still need to be told to wash their hands, for obvious reasons. Remember though not all bacteria are pathogenic (disease causing). In fact, they are very important in maintaining the health of your body. Without Lactobacillus in your body (females), you would have yeast infections all the time. If you did not have certain organisms that colonize your intestines and gut you would be much sicker. Your normal flora keeps the bad flora out unless something is done to upset the natural balance if your body (such as having too many antibiotics or doing cleanses). Also there is fungus on that piece of bread, that is not a bacteria (the green stuff). It is most likely Aspergillis not generally pathogenic unless you are immune compromised.
It's all well and good to believe that dreams are a bad idea and they are. But realize that we have to consume a certain amount of germs as a child to build an immune system later. As important as hand-washing is and as it must be done before every meal and after every bathroom break I don't feel that germs are really an enemy you have to live with them not fight with them if you fight with them they will win and you will end up with a disease that you would have never of probably ended up with if you let your immune system build.
That is actually a nice way to teach children to wash their hands
If you just eat the damn thing and not let it sit for 3 weeks, you wouldn't have this problem :D
I was super careful with my first born, cleaner than anything, then my second came along and she was the "dirty" kid, always drank the bath water, ate dirt, etc. First child got sick way faster than second throughout their whole lives... our bodies need some germs to help build up resistance to the bigger germs.
The picture you are using was taken be Courtney Lee Simpson and posted on her face book page in 2014 do you have permission to use it? Check it out!
The picture you are using belongs to Courtney Lee Simpson takeni. In 2014 and posted on her Facebook page do you have permission to use it?
Where were teachers like this when I was in school? I would have been so much more interested!!
f**k this s**t, drilling the the paranoia of germs into kids the way it's been done in the last 20 years opens up way too big a door to ocd. must find a way to make them understand that is gross to wipe your butt and then go touch food without washing hands, while avoiding to create horror movies about very dangerous yet INVISIBLE stuff everywhere
I might do this at home, but the "dirty" slice will be just my own unwashed hands touching it, because in daily life it's unlikely that 30-odd people are going to manhandle your lunch.
Not to take away from the genius of this experiment, but we did this exact thing nearly 50 years ago, when I was in grade school.
This is why this is such a great book to help kids learn about hygiene: https://www.amazon.com/Hop-Board-Ghastly-Things-Book/dp/1946522090 Hop-on-Boa...6c8712.jpg
Actually, blowing at the slide of bread would have the same result. Nevertheless, good teaching here, just don't tell the kids ;)
That would be for the "cover your mouth when sneezing/coughing" experiment :)
Load More Replies...I am outraged no one considers us coprophiliacs , or our needs and orientation; that teacher needs firing!!
I see the point of this exercise, and it is clever. However, we as a society have become so germophobic as to prevent the process of the body's ability to build up a natural resistance through gradual exposure.
For some reason I read "germophobic" as "disliking people from Germany" at first...
Load More Replies...Illustrative BUT the difference between between "newly washed" and "unwashed" is a bit askew. By a factor around 20. A more correct result would be "1: pass a slice around, unwashed hands" and then let the whole class wash hands and then "2: pass a slice aruond, newly washed hands".
Humans Carry More Bacterial Cells than Human Ones. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-humans-carry-more-bacterial-cells-than-human-ones/
Load More Replies...This is bad science. The first two samples were handled by one person apiece, but the third slice of bread was handled by the whole class. Also, bread needs no handling to be contaminated with mold spores. Plus, bread contaminated with mold spores is not harmful to eat in the least - they die in the stomach.
When I was in second grade, my teacher was older than dirt (so to speak). One day she handed out toothpicks to every child. Then she told us to use the toothpicks to clean underneath our fingernails, letting the crud from underneath them collect on our desks. After we were all done, we each had an impressive pile of crud on our desks. Then she directed us to "Eat that pile of crud!" We all looked at each other, shocked! "Eeeew! No!!!" we were all screeching! She then wisely told us, "That is what you are eating when you bite your fingernails." It really made an impression on us!
Stella, thank you for contacting Donna about her post. Thank you Donna Gill Allen for reposting my original pictures/experiment that my 2nd graders did. You helped make it go viral:) Well, you made it go viral. I initiated this experiment as a LTI. My students used inquiry skills to determine importance of hand washing. This is something we graphed and documented in our journals. Thank you so much for sharing all the way from FL to NC!
Stuff like this is frustrating to me because only half of the story is being told here and I hope this teacher is not teaching science or physiology because it shows how much they don't know. Probably a good object lesson because so many people still need to be told to wash their hands, for obvious reasons. Remember though not all bacteria are pathogenic (disease causing). In fact, they are very important in maintaining the health of your body. Without Lactobacillus in your body (females), you would have yeast infections all the time. If you did not have certain organisms that colonize your intestines and gut you would be much sicker. Your normal flora keeps the bad flora out unless something is done to upset the natural balance if your body (such as having too many antibiotics or doing cleanses). Also there is fungus on that piece of bread, that is not a bacteria (the green stuff). It is most likely Aspergillis not generally pathogenic unless you are immune compromised.
It's all well and good to believe that dreams are a bad idea and they are. But realize that we have to consume a certain amount of germs as a child to build an immune system later. As important as hand-washing is and as it must be done before every meal and after every bathroom break I don't feel that germs are really an enemy you have to live with them not fight with them if you fight with them they will win and you will end up with a disease that you would have never of probably ended up with if you let your immune system build.
That is actually a nice way to teach children to wash their hands
If you just eat the damn thing and not let it sit for 3 weeks, you wouldn't have this problem :D
I was super careful with my first born, cleaner than anything, then my second came along and she was the "dirty" kid, always drank the bath water, ate dirt, etc. First child got sick way faster than second throughout their whole lives... our bodies need some germs to help build up resistance to the bigger germs.
The picture you are using was taken be Courtney Lee Simpson and posted on her face book page in 2014 do you have permission to use it? Check it out!
The picture you are using belongs to Courtney Lee Simpson takeni. In 2014 and posted on her Facebook page do you have permission to use it?
Where were teachers like this when I was in school? I would have been so much more interested!!
f**k this s**t, drilling the the paranoia of germs into kids the way it's been done in the last 20 years opens up way too big a door to ocd. must find a way to make them understand that is gross to wipe your butt and then go touch food without washing hands, while avoiding to create horror movies about very dangerous yet INVISIBLE stuff everywhere
I might do this at home, but the "dirty" slice will be just my own unwashed hands touching it, because in daily life it's unlikely that 30-odd people are going to manhandle your lunch.
Not to take away from the genius of this experiment, but we did this exact thing nearly 50 years ago, when I was in grade school.
This is why this is such a great book to help kids learn about hygiene: https://www.amazon.com/Hop-Board-Ghastly-Things-Book/dp/1946522090 Hop-on-Boa...6c8712.jpg
Actually, blowing at the slide of bread would have the same result. Nevertheless, good teaching here, just don't tell the kids ;)
That would be for the "cover your mouth when sneezing/coughing" experiment :)
Load More Replies...I am outraged no one considers us coprophiliacs , or our needs and orientation; that teacher needs firing!!
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