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The Five-Second Rule: Myth or Fact?

Name: Zachary McCormic

Brief Class Description (contextual information including number of students, subject, level,

IEP/ELL/GT or other special considerations): Class is 10-12 grade microbiology students.

Twenty-five students are in the class, one has an IEP (low vision), and three are ELLs. Students

sit in groups of five around the classroom. Student with low vision will have all handouts ready

in advance and in large font/print. One ELL is in the intermediate stage of language acquisition,

one is in the speech emergence stage, and the third is in the early production stage. Early

production and intermediate ELL sit at same table to assist with vocabulary, and speech

emergence ELL sits with only non-ELL students.

Unit and Unit Goals: Advanced Microbiology and Techniques

Lesson Topic: The Five-Second Rule: Myth or Fact?

Prior Knowledge (How do you know the students are ready for this lesson?): Students will

already have knowledge of microbiology (types of organisms, media required to grow

organisms, how organisms grow), microbiology techniques, hypothesis formation and

generation, how to complete a lab handout from previous lessons. This lesson is to be given at

the end of the unit.

Alignment: Anchor Standard 8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the

evidence.

Common Core

Disciplinary Literacy

Standards

Objective Assessment Activity(ies)

(Which step(s) of

DRL teach this

objective?)

1. CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.RST.11-

12.2 Determine the central ideas or

conclusions of a text;

summarize complex

concepts, processes,

or information

presented in a text by

paraphrasing them in

simpler but accurate

terms.

1. Student will

summarize both sides

of the five-second rule

argument after

reading and coding

the document.

1. Formative exit pass

1.a Motivation. Discussion of foods

people have eaten off

floor, general

knowledge of what

the 5-second rule is.

1.c Concept development.

Generate own

definition of 5-second

rule with their group.

This is needed as they

will be using it as a

framework to reading

the article.

2 Reading and

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Writing Standards:

CCSS Anchor Standard for Writing: Text Types and Purposes 1: Write arguments to support

claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and

sufficient evidence.

CCSS Anchor Standard for Writing: Text Types and Purposes 2: Write informative/explanatory

texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the

effective selection, organization, and analysis of content

coding/annotating of

article.

3 Discussion. Students are

discussing the sides

for and against the 5-

second rule from the

article, and list them

on their exit passes.

2. CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.RST.11-

12.8 Evaluate the hypotheses, data,

analysis, and

conclusions in a

science or technical

text, verifying the data

when possible and

corroborating or

challenging

conclusions with other

sources of

information.

2. Student will be able

to evaluate the

information provided

in the text, and design

an experiment to

evaluate the validity

of the five-second

rule.

2. Formative generation of lab

report

1.a Motivation. Discussion of foods

people have eaten off

floor, general

knowledge of what

the 5-second rule is.

1.b Background Knowledge.

Discussion of types of

microbes and where

they live, provides

background to the

students replicating

the lab.

4 Re-reading. Students will use their

codes and annotations

to discuss and assess

the efficacy of the 5-

second rule with their

group.

5 Writing. Students will design their own

experiment on the 5-

second rule as a

group.

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Materials Needed (Include Text Macrostructure):

-Article 5-Second Rule Rules, Sometimes (Skarnulis, L.) -Powerpoint explaining coding technique/next steps of lesson

-Exit pass

-Template handout

Technology Integration/Needs: Student with IEP will be given all materials in advance, and in

large font. Article has option online to be read aloud. This article has a Flesch-Kincaid score of

9.6, so just below grade level for these students. For the ELLs in the class, I am using repetition

(the concepts used in this lesson have already been used in previous classes), collaboration (the

exit slip and template handout are both done as a group), background knowledge (the

introduction pulls from real life and eating food that has fallen to the floor), and am using

sentence starters for the exit slip and template for ELLs

Lesson Procedure:

1.a. Readiness: Motivation Activity: Show of hands who here knows what the 5-second rule is? Since we are all very clean microbiologists and dont do anything unsanitary or gross, and are the cleanest people ever (WINK), do you know of anyone who follows this rule? What foods

have PEOPLE YOU KNOW eaten off the floor?

Time Allotted: 3 min

Adaptations (for IEP, ELL, culture, and other special needs): Notes left on

powerpoint and printed out. Background knowledge and repetition are used for ELLs.

Transition (explicitly linking concepts/activities/objectives): (After naming

several foods) Great! Now what microorganisms do you think could be found on different

surfaces (and via ppt)? Would this vary? What about a bathroom versus a handrail? A kitchen

counter versus a lab bench?

1.b. Readiness: Background Knowledge Activity: Lets go to the powerpoint. What kind of microorganisms do you think we will find at the following places (kitchen counter, floor,

bathroom, public corridor, surgical suite)? Go ahead and feel free to use your notes from the past

couple days, including any lab forms we have been working on. So Kitchen counter. What types of things come in contact with a kitchen counter? (uncooked foods, unwashed fruits and

vegetables) What kind of bacteria might these have on or within them? (salmonella, E.coli,

hands-staph aureus) (Im not having the students write this in their notes, but they are taking it from previous lessons)

Time Allotted: 3 min

Adaptations: Notes on powerpoint and printed out. Background knowledge and

repetition are used for ELLs.

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Transition: (After going through slide, we will regroup back to the intro of the 5-

second rule). And the Surgical suite? None, right? What about hospital-acquired infections? (C.

difficile, MRSA, A. baumannii are all good). Good answers! Now lets circle back to the 5-second rule.

1.c. Readiness: Concept Development Activity: (Students will be asked to come up with a

working definition of the 5-second rule for their group the 5-second rule is the only vocab word for the lesson) So what I want you to do next is to come up with a working definition of the

5-second rule with your group. Take ideas from everyone, and compile them in one working

definition. Each group is going to write the working definition at the top of their exit pass, which

I am handing out right now (hand out exit pass).

Time Allotted: 5-7 min

Adaptations: Large-font handouts given in advance. Group collaboration is used,

and sentence starters will be given to ELLs (if they want or need them).

Transition: Now that each group has their working definition, can I have a

representative from each group share their definition?

1.d. Readiness: Purpose for Reading Activity: We have our definitions of the 5-second rule, Im going to give you an article from WebMD that discusses the 5-second rule. While you read, code

or annotate the article. Coding or annotating is where you take notes through symbols on the

paper. I want you to code the things you agree with, disagree with, question, would like more

information on, and any ideas for expansion, and to annotate where you wish to elaborate on

what you are reading. For example, you might have a ? and annotate How did they come to that conclusion? The codes will be on the powerpoint (+ Agree, - Disagree, & More information, ? Question, $ Expansion, # Interesting). Is there anything else you would like to add to the list?

And dont be afraid to make notes with the codes. For example, if you really agree, put +yes! next to what you want to highlight. I will hand out the article in a few moments. It is only a few

pages long, but I want you to really read the article closely, and make thoughtful annotations

and notes. I want you to pay close attention to the comments by the different research teams and

medical personnel throughout the article, as it will tie in with the final product for our unit.

Time Allotted: 3 min

Adaptations: Large-font article and code sheet given in advance. Notes left on

powerpoint and printed out. Audio of article needed for IEP student if they want to use that

instead of the large print version. ELLs will be given the article in advance to read and tell me of

any terms they do not understand, and any terms above their vocabulary level will be discussed

prior to handout being delivered. Using my codes, I will generate a summary of the article and

key points and ideas for the ELL learners as well.

Transition: Give students the article (5-Second Rule Rules, Sometimes) and have code bank on powerpoint. I am passing out the article 5-Second Rule Rules, Sometimes.

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2. Silent Reading Activity: Students will read and code/annotate article. I want you to take the

article, code and annotate it using the codes we have discussed. They will be left on the

overhead. Please make good codes and annotations, as this will drive out next activity.

Time Allotted: 10 min

Adaptations: Code bank left on powerpoint, will be printed out in large font as

well. Article has option online where it can be listened to instead of being read, which will be an

option for student with IEP. Article can also be printed in large font and given in advance. ELLs

will be given the article in advance to read and tell me of any terms they do not understand, and

any terms above their vocabulary level will be discussed prior to handout being delivered.

Transition: Once students are done reading and coding, I will have the students

regroup with their group and discuss their findings. Who in the article agreed with your position? Who disagreed? Did this article change your definition of the 5-second rule?

3. Discussion Activity: With your groups, I want you to discuss the following from your

annotations (on ppt) what you agreed with, what you didnt agree with, what you would like to discuss more, what you would like more information on, and what you would like to expand upon

(if there are any more discussed in class, list here). Use your annotations to drive your

discussion. After a few minutes, we will regroup and discuss this as a class. (after a few minutes,

and we are back as a class) So, after discussing this with your group, were there any points either

the author or the people they interviewed made that you agree with? Anything you didnt agree with? After reading, did it change your definition of the 5-second rule? Did this article further

cement your view of the 5-second rule? Does anyone have any questions they would like to ask

based on the article we read? (This is the open activity where other students will be invited to

answer the questions raised by their peers) Now, with your group, please fill out the remainder of

your exit pass, including the 3 arguments for and against the 5-second rule. It needs to have

input from all members of the group, and needs to be completed before you receive your

extension handout. Please copy the working definition, arguments for and arguments against in

your notes.

Time Allotted: 7-10 min

Adaptations: Key of codes left up on powerpoint. If student with IEP elects to be

the recorder for the group, use of visual and technological aides will be available (computer,

large-font handouts, voice-to-text software). Handout will be large print if needed. For the ELLs,

group collaboration is being used, and the handout has sentence starters.

Transition: As groups begin to talk more and turn in their exit passes, I will

prompt the class to think about what they would do to test the 5-second rule. After all exit passes

are collected from the groups, I will show the next slide on the powerpoint that goes into the lab

design. Im starting to hear more chatter, so I assume you are finishing up. Can one person from each group please bring their groups exit pass to my desk and pick up a brainstorming sheet for each member of your group.

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4. Re-reading Activity: Thank you for the exit passes. Here is a brainstorming sheet (Template

handout). What I want you to do, is take this handout and use it to make notes and to jot down

ideas from questions and prompts from the handout. Please refer back to the article, exit pass,

and any notes or annotations you took or ideas from the group discussion, and fill out the

brainstorming sheet. You can either fill it out by yourself, or with your group. I will give you

about 7 minutes before we regroup. You dont have to answer every question, this is to stimulate your imagination for the next section.

Time Allotted: 10 minutes

Adaptations: Handout given in advance and in large font. Technological aides

available for filling out handout and taking notes. Group collaboration is used for ELLs, and

sentence starters are added to the handout for the ELL learners.

Transition: (this is a hard-stop). Okay class, thats been about 7 minutes. Can someone name one of the section headers? (Introduction, Materials, Methods, Results are the

possible choices) Does this look familiar to anyone? Yes! It looks similar to the standard

laboratory report format we use in class! Any ideas as to why? You will be testing the 5-second

rule through an experiment you design!

5. Follow Up Writing Activity (Closing Activity): (Here I will be introducing the experiment)

For this experiment, you and your team are group of scientists who have been asked to

determine if the 5-second rule is a myth or fact. The handout has the primary categories you

should be thinking about, but dont forget to add (bring up ppt) what foods you want to test, how you want to test them, surfaces to test, etc. Be sure to think of how you are planning to collect

data, what materials you will need, and how you want to evaluate your study. Please be sure to

include your groups definition of the 5-second rule from your exit sheets, and a hypothesis you want to test, something like The 5-second rule is true and valid as not enough time is allotted for microbes to transfer from surface to the food or The 5-second rule is false as microbes transfer immediately upon contact between food and a dirty surface. You will have the rest of class today, and all of class tomorrow to design your experiment and ask questions. Use all the

resources you have been given today, including the article and the brainstorming handout.

(NOTE: This lines up with my two literacy standards, as the students need to find the central

idea of the text [the 5-second rule, its definition, and how it can be tested], and design a

hypothesis about the rule from their reading and test it)

After the Lesson:

Reflection (How did you adjust instruction based on student responses to your formative

assessments? What are the implications for future instruction?): Overall, I think this lesson was

very fun for the students. The article was right around their reading level, and had only limited

vocabulary related to microbiology. I may want to find a tougher article to challenge students

going forward, or incorporate multiple texts and have students work from different texts, making

each set of hypotheses different. The coding and annotating was not the best, but students will

get better at this as they practice and become more familiar with doing it. I need to have more

than one and a half days for experiment design, and it would be a good idea to check their work

before letting them go forward with the experiment. For AP students, the review would not be

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needed, but for a class with under and upperclassmen, the added review is needed. I am still

debating introducing the complete lab write-up during this lesson, as it may help the students

take notes, but may prove overwhelming too, knowing up-front that this article is going to be

used to drive a large assignment that will take over a week to complete. The objectives lined up

well with the assignment, and were met (via the exit pass and the template handout). Timing-

wise, the introduction took more than the allotted 3 minutes, which cut into experiment design

time at the end of class. We did get good discussion going though, which I believe led to more

creative ideas in the experiment design portion of the lesson. Leaving the coding key and what to

look for on the powerpoint worked well, as I could see heads looking up and down to see if they

were using the codes correctly and that they were looking to answer the questions they needed to

in the lesson. I would like to leave more time for discussion next time, as this ran into re-reading

a bit, but I was fine with adding to discussion time and reducing re-reading time.

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References

Skarnulis, L. (2007). 5-Second rule rules, sometimes. Retrieved from

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/5-second-rule-rules-sometimes-.

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Exit Pass

Group Members:________________________________________________________________

Date:______________ Class:___________________

Five-Second Rule:_______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

The Five-Second Rule

PRO CON

1.

1.

2.

2.

3.

3.

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Template

Group Members:________________________________________________________________

Date:______________ Class:___________________

Our Hypothesis:________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Section Questions to consider:

Introduction What is the five-second rule?

Do you believe it is true or false?

Why do you want to test it?

What other studies have been done that you are using as background?

Materials What kind of things do you want to test?

What surfaces will you test?

What media will you need to grow any bacteria?

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Methods How will you go about testing your hypothesis?

What times will you be testing?

What will you be using as a control?

How will you culture from your samples?

How many days will your experiment take?

How will you know if anything has grown from your cultures?

Results What do you think will happen?

What tables and charts will you use?

Will you be using any graphs? How?

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Code/Annotation Key

Code What Example

+ Agree The author brings up a good point. I think bacteria are immediately

transferred from surface to food, not after 5 seconds.

- Disagree The restaurant thing is gross. How could a restaurant serve food

that hit the floor?

& More Information How common are foodborne illnesses among people with regular

immune systems?

? Question Why did they not test gum? Sounds like a common food to put

back in ones mouth!

$ Expansion Who is conducting these additional experiments?

# Interesting A doctoral candidate conducted the study! Riveting.

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Rubric:

Group Members:________________________________________________________________

Exit Pass: 10 points

What Value Criterion Scale Earned

Definition 4 points

Did they have a definition that

included time, a food, and

bacteria/germs.

4 if all included, 3 if

missing 1, 2 if missing

2, 1 of missing all 3, 0 if

blank

Pro 1 point

each

Did they have three pros

related to the 5-second rule?

1 point per pro, 3 points

overall

Con 1 point

each

Did they have three cons

related to the 5-second rule?

1 point per con, 3 points

overall

TOTAL

Template: 20 points (completion, but will have notes from me for areas to improve)

What Value Criterion Scale Earned

Introduction 5 points

Are questions answered? Are they

showing a good understanding of

the WHY to the lesson?

Completion

Materials 5 points Different foods, surfaces and

times listed? Media listed? Completion

Methods 5 points

Did they list how they want to

test? Time from start to

completion? Effort put in to how

they will culture, and how they

will determine if they found

anything

Completion

Results 5 points

Did they list what they thought

would happen, and what

tables/charts/graphs they will be

using?

Completion

TOTAL