In the course of the Citizen Science project ‘The hidden world of bacteria’ a research group worked together with school classes trying to meet both requirements, for scientific publication of project results and for successful knowledge and science communication. The aim of the project was to isolate interesting bacteria strains from inland waters and to describe them as new taxa. A further aim was to illustrate the invisible world of bacteria in surface waters and to promote the understanding for their role in the environment. Students from six school classes took water samples and handled them in workshops. Overall nearly 100 bacteria strains were isolated and half of them genome sequenced. Four peer reviewed articles taxonomically describing new genera and species were already published in an international journal in the time frame of the project. The students were involved in the whole process from taking samples to publishing the results and significantly contributed to the success of the project. Beside this they got an insight into the hidden world of bacteria and how scientific research works.