Re: how can i teach a class a game so they canunderstand spontainous generation

Hi Jenny

You could try a simple experiment to help people to think about whether or 
not new life can arise "spontaneously" from inanimate material.

Take an unopened bottle of mineral water, an empty bottle of the same type 
and some pond or puddle water. Fill the empty bottle with pond or puddle 
water and seal it. Leave the two bottles together in a light place and 
watch what happens as a few days go by. You should see the pond water 
begin to turn green because algae will be growing it. The tiny algae 
spores were there all along, but the light and warmth causes them to break 
open and grow. The sealed bottle of mineral water will stay clear because 
it doesn't have any spores in it to begin with. If life can arise 
spontaneously, you would expect the mineral water to grow algae, too if 
you provide the same conditions for each bottle.

If you want to try a different approach, you could set up a role-play 
where a seventeenth century scientist has "time-travelled" to the twenty 
first century to meet a modern scientist.

Hope this is useful

Mel Williams