Students investigate why bees play a crucial role in our ecosystems and in food production.
Through this activity, students gain insight into the importance of bees in pollination and plant reproduction.
Prepare the students by letting them know that through this experiment, they will gain insight into why bees play a major role in our ecosystems and food production.
Begin with small group discussions. Ask students:
What happens when a bee flies from flower to flower?
What happens if the bees visit more or fewer flowers?
You can use the Hypothesis Development method. For the discussion you can use the Catch a Partner or Going Round and Round method.
Carry out the experiment or watch this video where the experiment is carried out.
After the experiment, students explore the following questions (or similar):
Which parts of the flower are important for pollination?
Which plants and foods depend especially on pollination?
What happens if a flower is not pollinated?
Why is pollination important for plants—and for us as humans?
In places where there are no bees, what do people do to ensure pollination and food production?
Here the Solo – Think – Write and the Fact-Checking method can be used.
Use visual aids or real flowers. Bring in flowers or show diagrams so students can see the parts involved in pollination.
Encourage inquiry-based learning. Instead of giving students all the answers, prompt them with guiding questions. Let them hypothesize, observe, and draw conclusions from the experiment or video.
Make connections to real life. Link the topic to foods students eat (e.g. apples, almonds, chocolate). Ask: “What would happen to your diet without pollinators?”
| Engage | Investigate |