1. Take your plastic bag and label each as sample 1 - 4 on the bag in the upper right hand corner.
2. Draw a grid on the plastic bag that has a total of 10 boxes. Try to make your grid the same size as the slice of bread.
3. Insert a slice of bread in each of the labeled plastic bags and tightly close the bags.
4. Place sample #1 in your dark box, sample #2 under a light that you will be keeping on throughout the experiment, sample #3 in your refrigerator, and sample #4 on top of your refrigerator.
5. Each day, examine your four samples and write down how many boxes in your grid have mold. Make note of any changes using your tables in your lab notebook.
6. After 10 days, stop the experiment and begin your data analysis.
So now that you're on the step where you complete your data analysis, how do you do that? Let's go through this process now:
Let's create a rate graph using your data table. The x-axis will be labeled 'mold growth.' This is the dependent variable, or total number of boxes you counted for each day. The y-axis will be labeled 'time,' which is your independent variable. Your final graph should resemble a line graph. Be sure to complete this step for each sample.
Next, you need to do a little bit of troubleshooting. For example, does your graph look a little odd or strange? Make sure all bags are completely closed. Try to keep the placement conditions of your bread slices as consistent as possible.
Then, you should consider these kinds of discussion questions and attempt to answer them:
Was your hypothesis correct or incorrect?
In which environment did mold grow the fastest?
In which environment did mold grow the slowest?
