A teacher whose bread trick scared kids into being more diligent at washing their hands is being hailed online by parents.
Donna Gill Allen, 60, who teaches health occupation at Cape Fear High school in Fayetteville, North Carolina, used three slices of bread to teach her students an important – and stomach-churning – lesson about hygiene.
The first of the slices, the ‘controlled’ piece, was placed into a plastic baggy using gloves, while the second was handled with freshly-washed hands, before being packed in its own bag.
Driving it home: Donna Gill Allen, a health occupation teacher at Cape Fear High school in Fayetteville, North Carolina, used bread for a lesson in hygiene
Spreading the word: Donna described on Facebook how the third slice of bread was handled by the class and grew mold over the following days
The third slice was passed around the room, being handled by every child’s unwashed hands before putting it in a bag. Each bag was then labeled appropriately.
Over the days that followed, the students in the classroom were able to watch while the slice of bread they had handled developed black and green spots all over it while the others remained the same.
Gaining fame: Donna’s post about her lesson has been shared more than 75,000 times
The disturbing experiment was enough to shock the kids with the reality of the importance of washing your hands.
After the lesson’s success, Donna shared photos of the experiment online along with instructions for how other teachers can give it a try.
‘This is the grossest yet coolest experiment,’ she said. ‘I did this while teaching about germs and how they spread. ‘
But it wasn’t only teachers who spotted the post, but parents from all across the country. Since being posted, the photo has been shared more than 75,000 times.
It has also attracted more than 15,000 comments, many of which praised Donna for her impressive creativity.
‘GREAT experiment! Well gross but valuable learning indeed!’ wrote one user on the post.
Keeping it up: A number of people praised Donna for her creative hygiene lesson
Pass it around: Several thought that the lesson should be also used to help grown ups change their habits
Chiming in: Several other teachers added that they have also tried the experiment
Others wrote that they wish that more adults would see the experiment and step up their own hand-washing ways.
Another experienced teacher even left a few addendums to Donna’s description to help teachers get the best results.
‘Make sure you use preservative free bread,’ the teacher wrote. ‘I did a 6th grade science project (decades ago!) My mother’s homemade bread started growing mould after three days. Wonder Bread grew NO mould at all. Not after a week. Not after a month.’