Icky Classroom Experiment Convinced Students The Importance Of Washing Their Hands

With the advent of hand-sanitizers, hand-washing has somehow become a thing of the past. Many adults, including students, would simply whip out their hand sanitizers to “make them clean” and grab the food near them, and of course, take a bite.

However, two enterprising teachers who believed that the traditional way of cleaning hands, that is, by washing it with soap and water, is still the best way, did a little experiment. Yes, it was a disgusting one, but it was highly effective.

Dirty Hands = A Host of Bacteria

As per NyPost’s report, the two teachers were from Idaho Falls, Idaho. They were Jaralee Annice Metcalf and Dayna Robertson. Jaralee, a behavioral specialist at the Discovery Elementary School, stated that the experiment was a doozy. The viral Facebook post, which showed the result of the experiment, now has 64,000 shares.

According to Dayna, they noticed that there are now longer lines in the bathroom, not to pee, but to wash hands. There were even some students who became so conscious about their hands that they would just get up and tell the teacher that they needed to go out to wash their hands.

Five Slices of Bread

The experiment made use of five slices of bread. One slice was the control bread, which was fresh and untouched. The second one was touched by dirty hands. The third was touched by hands that were washed with soap and water. The fourth one was touched by hands washed by a hand sanitizer. The last one was a slice of bread wiped on a book. All these slices were placed in separate plastic bags and were made to hang in the classroom.

Two weeks after, they started to see the development of mold. Out of the five plastic bags, the ickiest ones were the one touched by dirty hands, and the one rubbed on Chromebooks. The teachers stated that they must not have expected the disgusting result of the experiment.

The best part of it all was that it was life-changing for the students. It led to an increase in the lines of students waiting to wash their hands. It made them aware of how much bacteria is present on unwashed hands.