Waggle Dance – Part 1

Discuss what communication is. Ask questions as:

• What defines real communication? Is it just speech?
• Can animals have language?
• Can body language be just as precise or meaningful as words?

The Catch a Partner method can be used for the discussion.

Watch the Waggle Dance – Part 1, from NativLang, showing how bees communicate.

You can use the Statements of Wonder method before watching the video, to spark curiosity. To activate active listening, you can use the Active Listening or the In – Think – Out method.

Explain (or have students research briefly):

• The ‘Waggle Dance’ communicates direction, distance, and quality of food sources.
• It’s based on angle relative to the sun and vibration duration.
• It’s a form of symbolic language, which is rare in the animal kingdom.

Now shift to cross-species metaphor:

• What would a human version of the Waggle Dance look like?
• Could we invent a non-verbal system that tells someone how to get somewhere,  without speaking or writing?

Watch the Waggle Dance – Part 1. In groups, challenge students to design their own “dance language” to give directions to a place in school and have others try to follow it. Emphasize: It’s not about silliness, it’s about how meaning is constructed and interpreted.

Reflect with the students.  Ask questions as:

• What does the Waggle Dance tell us about the intelligence of bees?
• Can movement ever replace language? In what contexts?
• Why is communication often misunderstood?

Here you can use the Guess, Share, and Guess Again method.