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Peer Review

Bacteria Basics : Microbiology Basics

Reviewed:

May 4, 2026 by Biology
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Ratings

Overall Rating: 4.5 stars
Content Quality: 4.5 stars
Effectiveness: 4.8 stars
Ease of Use: 4.2 stars
Overview:

In this video, the author discusses the basics of bacteria. He covers bacterial classifications, sizes, shapes and how they reproduce. This video is intended to be a primer on bacteria. This is the first video in a series.

Type of Material:

Video Presentation

Recommended Uses:

Could be useful for in-class, homework, individual, or group/team learning.

Technical Requirements:

None.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Students can discuss the basic aspects of bacteria: their classifications, sizes, shapes and how they reproduce.

Target Student Population:

High School, College Lower Division

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

High school level biology

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:

  • The sound is clear
  • Presentation has a good pace
  • Presentation is engaging entertaining.
  • Material is also closed-captioned for the hearing impaired.
Concerns:

  • Some of the information is outdated and needs to be updated,  particularly the ratio of the microbes to human cells
  • Speaker does a bit of self-promoting at the beginning, try to sell his other videos or get viewers to subscribe/donate money, which could be off putting to some

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:

  • Slides and graphics are easy to see and follow
  • The information is presented in a very simplified way using mnemonics 
Concerns:

  • Learning goals embedded into the slides would be a good idea, since this is intended for self-learning by the viewer
  • Depending upon how the information is used, it may need additional supplemntal resources

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:

  • Video has closed captioning for the hearing impaired
  • Slides contain minimal material, are easy to read, and use non-serif fonts that make it easy to read for visually impaired
  • The videos are easy to follow
  • Terms are presented in a simplified manner and provide helpful mnemonics
Concerns:

  • The commercial sell of the video service at the beginning is a bit off-putting; this author maintains a website where he sells his videos and teaching materials; this particular video (and some of the series) is free, however
Other Issues and Comments:

This is a recent video made in 2014, so content is current. This is a good alternative for use with high school students or low-level community college students first studying bacteria or in a biology course.

Creative Commons:
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