Teacher sheet · Ages 15–16 · about 45–50 minutes
Pollination, colonies and the waggle dance
Lesson page: echoesof.science/school/bees/ages-15-16/ · Pupil worksheet: echoesof.science/school/bees/ages-15-16/print/
Learning aims
- Describe pollination and the coevolution of bees and flowering plants.
- Explain caste roles in a honeybee colony.
- Apply percentages to the concentration of nectar into honey.
- Build and use a calibration graph and evaluate uncertainty.
Lesson plan
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Starter: how could a bee tell another bee where food is without words? |
| 10 min | Read the text; quiz questions 1–3. |
| 25 min | Calibration graph and waggle-dance role play. |
| 5 min | Round or waggle? game. |
| 5 min | Discuss uncertainty and the pollinator-value figures. |
Materials for the experiment
- Graph paper or a spreadsheet
- Stopwatches
- Large protractor and chalk or masking tape
- Map of the school grounds with a scale
- Cards showing a hidden 'food source' (direction and distance)
Safety: Keep the walking area clear of bags and chairs. Do not walk backwards near steps or furniture.
Common misconceptions
| Pupils may think… | Actually… |
|---|---|
| The waggle dance shows direction relative to north. | It shows direction relative to the sun. |
| Honey is just stored nectar. | Enzymes change the sugars and much of the water is evaporated. |
| All pollinator statistics measure the same thing. | Figures differ by region, crop set and whether value or quantity is measured. |
Worksheet answers
- The queen is the only reproductive female and lays the eggs; workers (non-reproductive females) care for brood, build, defend, and forage, with tasks changing with age; drones are males that mate with queens from other colonies.
- Expected about d = 1200·t − 400; for 1.2 s, d ≈ 1,040 m (accept values close to the student's own line).
- Sugar = 0.30 × 2.0 = 0.60 kg; honey = 0.60 ÷ 0.80 = 0.75 kg.
- E.g. reaction time when starting and stopping the stopwatch; judging the start and end of the run; reading the angle. Reduced by repeating 6 runs and taking the mean, using the same timer, and marking the run on the floor.
Quiz answers
- In the calibration data, how far is food signalled by a 2.0 s waggle run? About 2,000 m. 2.0 s ≈ 2,000 m.[6]
- Using d = 1200·t − 400, what distance does a 2.5 s waggle run indicate? 2,600 m. 1200 × 2.5 − 400 = 2,600 m.[6]
- Nectar with 60% water is turned into honey with 20% water. How much honey does 1.0 kg of nectar make (ignoring other losses)? 0.5 kg. Sugar = 0.4 kg; 0.4 ÷ 0.80 = 0.5 kg of honey.[7]
- In the class role play, 'up' stands for the sun. A waggle run points 40° to the right of 'up'. Where is the food? 40° to the right of the direction of the sun. The angle of the run gives the direction relative to the sun.[6]
- What do hive bees' enzymes do to nectar? Break sucrose into simpler sugars. Then fanning removes water.[7]
- Why do two sources give such different figures (84% and 35%) for food depending on pollinators? They measure different things for different regions. 84% of EU crops vs 35% of world food crops.[1][2]
Going further
Research how scientists first decoded the waggle dance, then design an experiment (with real or simulated data) to test whether bees signal distance by time or by number of waggles.
Sources used in this lesson
- [1] Insect pollination (Natural History Museum, London): reliability High
- [2] Pollinators benefit agriculture (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service): 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
- [6] Honey bee biology, part 2 (lecture notes) (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Department of Entomology): reliability Medium-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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