High School Science Thanksgiving – Foodborne Illness Case Study & Project
By Science of Curiosity
Bring the real-world into your classroom with this engaging high school science Thanksgiving activity! Students take on the role of microbiologists investigating a Thanksgiving dinner gone wrong - a food-borne illness outbreak that leaves dinner guests sick. Using real data, lab results, and case details, students apply biology concepts to uncover which bacteria caused the illness and how contamination happened. *Note: this resource is 100% editable and can be adjusted for any time of year! Easily make it a Christmas dinner, an Easter dinner, or just a family gathering! This student-led Thanksgiving biology activity is perfect for teaching food safety, microbiology, data analysis, and CER reasoning in a fun, applied way - no prep and no direct teaching required! Everything students need to solve the case is provided. Students Will… • Read the case study background to understand the dinner mystery • Analyze symptom data from eight dinner guests to look for infection patterns • Examine food preparation details to identify possible contamination sources • Explore bacterial culture techniques and how samples grow on agar plates • Learn how to identify five common bacteria by their shape, arrangement, and Gram-stain results • Use evidence from all sources to determine which pathogen caused the outbreak - and how it spread! Food Safety Extension Project: After solving the case, students investigate food safety strategies for foodborne pathogens! In this project, student groups rese
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