5th Graders Study Mold in Bread Experiments

5th graders are studying mold in a cool bread experiment. The moldy bread in the photo shows one student's second mold experiment (along with findings on how to overlay a grid to scale). Aside from one slice of bread, no other slices of their "Texas Toast"  have grown mold. 5th graders have determined that the cold may limit the growth, but preservatives in the bread play a bigger role in limiting mold growth on bread rubbed around a bathroom, on a computer keyboard or on the floor. Every student set up the same conditions for day-old bakery bread. While this bread has grown plenty of mold, everyone still feels more comfortable eating bread with fewer preservatives right now.

Update: Our intrepid 5th grade scientists continued with their mold study for another week. While only one piece of Texas Toast has grown mold over the last three weeks (preservatives!), their cheese bread began to seriously decompose. Before saying goodbye to the decomposing cheese bread, fifth graders calculated the area of the surface covered in mold as well as identified the types of mold. Great scientific practice. 
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