1. Students will design a fair test to answer the question, “Why do bees pollinate?”
2. Students will examine a video clip of a bee buzzing around plants and flowers and then
think about why bees might be important to our environment.
3. From observing the video of the bee and then discussing with their classmates and
teacher, students will create a blossom that will be used to help stimulate what a bee
must do in order to help with pollination in flowers and plants alike.
Engage
(This is the hook. Do not introduce vocabulary here. Get them excited.)
A video clip will be shown to the class of a bee buzzing around flowers.
After the video, ask the students,
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Allow students to brainstorm but guide them towards the idea that the bee’s
job is to pollinate. This leads to the question of
Explore
(Describe the activity the students will do to explore the subject. Will they create their own question or will
you give them a question to answer. How will you guide them?)
Students will work individually in making their own flower blossoms that will help
them to simulate what a bee must do in order to help pollination in the flowers and
plants.
Students will be given time to color and cut out their blossoms. They will be
shown how to cut out the center of their flower, explaining that this is important
because they will need to put their hands through the center of the flower during
their investigation.
After the students have finished with their cutting and coloring of their flower
blossoms, they will each be given a small brown lunch sack. They are shown a
demonstration of how they are to place the bag through the center of the flower.
Students will then be given two small bowls, one filled with cheeto crumbs and the
other with powdered sugar. (The colors are different for the purpose of the fair
test).
The students will be pretending that their hands are their bees. Their “bees” will
travel from flower to flower (from the ones they’ve made to another one).
Working in their table groups, students will put a teaspoon of cheeto crumbs into
two team members bags and a teaspoon of powdered sugar into the other two
members bags. A small amount of liquid will be sprayed on each child’s finger
tips.
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When they stick their hand into one of the bags, the liquid on their fingers will
allow either the cheeto crumbs or powdered sugar to stick onto their fingers.
When their “bee” travels to another flower with a different substance inside, both
food items will be on their hands.
All of this is meant to demonstrate/mimic how a bee might transfer pollen from
flower to flower.
- After all of this is completed, students will be given a sheet of paper in order to
document their observations or what they noticed from their investigations.
Explain
(The first explanations should come from the students. Then guide and clarify as they go.)
Ask the students to think of what might happen if bees were unable to pollinate flowers and
plants. What would happen to the environment if this were the case? In communicating the
explanation, students will need to give rationale for their explanation.
Elaborate
(They should be able to apply the information they have learned to a different situation or new scenario.)
Tell students they will get a chance to “practice” making observations. They will be taken outside
to observe if they can find any bees buzzing around.
They will then document their observations into their science notebooks, comparing their
observations to the activity and fair test that they did.
Evaluate
(Formative assessments check for understanding throughout the lesson and help the teacher know how to
redirect the lesson if needed) Formative: Students will be assessed throughout the activity in order
to ensure that they are on task with their fair test, as well as making sure that all learning needs
are met. A student experiment guide/log will be kept throughout the activity to ensure these
things.
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(Summative assessments are end of lesson checks for understanding that would typically be graded.)
Summative: Students will write down what they noticed, as well as their observations, from their
investigations in the activity.
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Works Cited
https://betterlesson.com/lesson/630819/pollinating-the-bees-have-it?from=s
earch
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