1. Choose a partner. One of you will incubate your plates at 37°C and the other will incubate his plates at room temperature (~25°C).
2. Label one plate “uninoculated” and do not open it.
3. After the plates are sufficiently cooled, hardened, and dried, expose one plate to the air for one hour. Label this plate “exposed”. This plate will allow you to observe colony morphology of different morphology of different microorganisms. Freshly poured plates have a very moist surface. It is best to wait several hours before the plates are exposed. The plates can also be taped closed and taken home to be exposed to your air at home the next day. If the plates are taken home, they should be brought back to the laboratory to be incubated with the other sterile plate, either at 37°C or room temperature.
4. In day 2, examine your plates. Observe any colony types that may be growing one your plates. It sis important to note the colony differences in color, size, shape and texture. Some of you may see “fuzzy” colonies, which are probably molds growing from spores floating in the air. If your plates do not show many different colony types, observe other plates which may have a greater variety of organisms.
5. Record your observation in the RESULTS section