Overview
The concept of contagious disease caused by microorganisms is first seen in the Old Testament. The biblical roots of microbiology are not a surprise when we consider the contributions of Louis Pasteur, the father of modern microbiology. Pasteur's swan-necked flask experiments not only disproved the theory of spontaneous generation (i.e., life evolved from nonliving matter), but also set the foundation for the law of biogenesis: life comes from preexisting life.
Conduct research of microbial pathogens/infectious agents. Refer to Part IV – Infections Diseases (Chapters 21–27) in Nester's Microbiology: A Human Perspective With Connect and other online scientific journals/articles (e.g., .edu, .gov, .org websites).
Select any one microorganism (i.e., bacteria, virus, fungus, protozoa, or prion) and create a PowerPoint presentation (minimum of 10 slides) that addresses the following criteria:
Title slide (clearly present your topic and your name)
Causative agent and structure
Diseases, signs, and symptoms
Pathogenesis and virulence
- Epidemiology
- Diagnosis
- Treatment, control, and prevention
- Microbe in the news (highlight one reliable news article about your microorganism)
- Christian worldview on caring for the suffering (provide a relevant Bible verse/passage and briefly discuss the significance of microbes from a biblical perspective)
- Reference slide (Use a minimum of three references; only use reliable sources)
- Reliable sources include: The course textbook, other books from major publishers, newspapers, peer reviewed articles, peer reviewed journals, PhD dissertations and research, public libraries [GCU library], scholarly articles, isolated studies or academic research, professional organizations' websites, educational institutions' websites, and government websites.
- Unreliable sources include: Wikipedia, blogs, forums, self-published books, questionable sites created by nonprofessional organizations, and sites that provide biased information..