Students will investigate the work of bees in building a healthy environment. Students will be connected live to the Liberty Science Centre in New York. The driving question for this lesson is: How can I take the things I notice and wonder to create a bee model? Students will be shown a number of different insects and asked what they ‘notice’ about their specific adaptations and body parts. They will also be asked what they ‘wonder’ about these animals. During this session students will look at the relationship between plants and animals. In the hands-on component, students will conduct a simple experiment to test run a bee’s capacity to transfer pollen.

Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of plant reproduction. Pollen can be carried by wind, rafted by water, or shuttled around by any manner of creatures (bees, beetles, birds, or bats) and deposited on the female reproductive part of another flower. It is somewhat hit or miss, which is why plants produce lots of pollen to ensure that some of it reaches where it needs to go.

Yes, a kit of materials will be sent to the school.

No prior knowledge is required.

In this program students will:

• Understand the importance of pollination.
• Explore the work of bees.

In this video conference students will:

• Learn the definition of pollination and how pollination occurs.
• Test the transference of pollen between flowers.

Science: Science as a Human Endeavour

• Plants and animals have external features that perform different functions to enable their survival; in plants these features include roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, bulbs, trunks and branches while different features in animals enable them to move, breathe, eat and respond to their environment (VC2S2U03)
• Plants and animals have basic needs, including air, water, food and shelter; the places where they live meet those needs (VC2S2U02)