Teacher sheet · Ages 10–11 · about 45–50 minutes
Pollination and the lives of bees
Lesson page: echoesof.science/school/bees/ages-10-11/ · Pupil worksheet: echoesof.science/school/bees/ages-10-11/print/
Learning aims
- Explain pollination as the transfer of pollen from anther to stigma.
- Compare how different bees carry pollen.
- Describe the castes of a honeybee colony and how honey is made.
- Plan and carry out a fair test with repeats and averages.
Lesson plan
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Starter: what would breakfast look like without pollinators? |
| 10 min | Read the text; label anther and stigma on a flower diagram. |
| 20 min | Which bee body carries the most pollen? experiment. |
| 5 min | Bee-sorting game. |
| 5 min | Quiz and discussion of results. |
Materials for the experiment
- Cornflour (the 'pollen') in a shallow dish
- Three 'bees' of the same size: a fluffy pom-pom, a fuzzy pipe cleaner rolled into a ball, a ball of smooth kitchen foil
- Sheets of black paper with 6 circles drawn on each (the 'flowers')
- Spoon, paper towels
Safety: Do not blow or throw the cornflour; wipe up spills straight away so nobody slips. Keep powder away from eyes. Wash hands afterwards.
Common misconceptions
| Pupils may think… | Actually… |
|---|---|
| Only honeybees pollinate. | Bumblebees, solitary bees, flies, beetles, butterflies, moths, birds and bats pollinate too. |
| All bees make honey. | Honey is made by honeybees; most bees are solitary. |
| The workers in a hive are males. | Workers are females; drones are the males. |
Worksheet answers
- Pollen moves from the anther (male part) of a flower to the stigma (female part), so the plant can make seeds.
- Queen: lays the eggs. Workers: collect nectar and pollen, look after the young, defend the hive. Drones: males that mate with queens from other colonies.
- Changed: type of bee body. Measured: number of flowers marked. Same: size of bee, dipping, pressing, amount of cornflour, number of flowers.
- Any two: climate change; loss or damage of habitat (towns, farming); light pollution.
Quiz answers
- In pollination, pollen moves from… the anther to the stigma. Anther (male part) to stigma (female part).[1]
- Where does a bumblebee carry pollen? In pollen baskets on its back legs. It combs pollen into baskets (corbiculae).[1]
- What is buzz pollination? A bee vibrates to shake pollen out of a flower. Tomatoes and blueberries are buzz pollinated.[3]
- Which member of a honeybee colony lays the eggs? The queen. The queen is the only reproductive female.[5]
- How do honeybees turn nectar into honey? They fan it so that water evaporates. Water drops to about 18–20%.[7]
- Most kinds of bee… live on their own (solitary). Honeybees and bumblebees are a small share of all bees.[4]
Going further
Design a bee-friendly corner for the school grounds: which flowers would give bees food from spring to autumn? Find out which flowers bees visit in your area.
Sources used in this lesson
- [1] Insect pollination (Natural History Museum, London): reliability High
- [3] 7 things you should know about bees and other pollinators (Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute): reliability High
- [4] The wonderful diversity of bees (Oxford University Museum of Natural History): reliability High
- [5] Honey bee castes (EDIS IN1102) (University of Florida, IFAS Extension): reliability High
- [7] How bees make honey (EarthDate fact sheet, episode 173) (EarthDate, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin): reliability Medium-high
Full list with links and a note on each source's reliability: echoesof.science/school/bees/sources/
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