To begin the mold project, split the students into groups of two. Discuss how mold grows from spores and the things it needs in order to thrive. Supply each pair of students with four slices of bread, four plastic baggies, three cotton swabs, a spray bottle of water and a permanent marker. They will also need a journal to record their findings.
Have the students choose four areas in the room they think will supply them with mold spores. Encourage them to be creative with their choices. For example, they might swab the bottom of their shoe or the inside of their lockers or backpacks. After that, they should rub each swab onto three different slices of bread. They should place the bread into the plastic baggies, spritz them with water and label each baggie with where they got their sample. The fourth slice of bread is a control sample and should not be swabbed; it should be placed in a baggie and labeled.
The mold will take several days to grow. The students should take notes in their journals about any changes they see over the next two weeks. In the meantime, they should also have time to discuss what is happening to their samples with each other. When the mold begins to grow, they may see that the molds that grow look a bit different, depending on where the sample spores came from. Have them research the different molds they find.
Have the students use their journals to present their project to their class. They should tell the class where their samples came from, and then tell them how quickly each kind of mold grew, the different appearances they take on and what kinds of mold they found -- if they were able to find this information through further research. At the end of the experiment, ask the students to discuss why the mold grew on the bread.