Science · Stage 5

Investigate: Mould and Microorganisms

Mould is a living microorganism that grows on food — plan a FAIR test of warm vs cold, change just ONE thing, keep the rest the same, then read the pattern straight off your chart like a real scientist!

✦ Science📘 Stage 5 · S5⏱ ~12 min🧒 Ages 9–10★ Free to start

I can name the variable I change and the ones I keep the same, and read a pattern from my data.

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Kavi's Mould Lab

Kavi finds a fuzzy green patch on an old slice of bread 🍞 and grabs a magnifying glass 🔎. "That fuzz is mould — a tiny living thing called a microorganism," hoots Kavi. "I think it grows faster where it's warm and damp. But to be sure, I must run a fair test: change just one thing, keep everything else the same, then read the pattern in my results. Let's investigate!"

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What your child will learn

1The four parts of a fair testA scientist asks: what grows mould faster? To get a true answer the test must be fair. Tap each part to see its job.

2Spot the one thing we changedHere are Kavi's two slices. Everything is the same on purpose — except for ONE thing. Tap each slice and find what is different.

3Think like a scientistPredict what will happen and why. Tap your answer, then tap Next test → for more.

4Read the pattern in the dataKavi counted the mouldy patches on each slice and drew a bar for each place. Read the chart and look for the trend: as the place gets colder, what happens to the mould?

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A peek inside

Kavi puts one slice in a warm cupboard and one in the cold fridge. Both are the same bread, same size, same 3 drops of water, checked for the same 5 days. What is the ONE thing Kavi changed?

Everything is kept the same except where each slice sits — warm versus cold. The one thing changed is the place and its temperature.

Try this at home: In a fair test, how many things do you change at one time?

Ready to play and learn?

Start the free interactive lesson, or print the handout for screen-free play.

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Part of Science · Stage 5 · S5 on KAVI Academy — a secular, whole-child learning platform for ages 5–12.