The Buzz on Bees-How Bees Make Our World a Little Sweeter
These lessons can help students learn about the important role bees play in the ecosystem.
By Debra Karr
We all want the sweeter things in life. That’s why honey is so popular and why it can be found in so many products that we consume. Honey can be found in cough drops, syrups, cereal, and snacks. Honey is a household name. But if it wasn’t for the honey bee, honey wouldn’t be. So these next few lessons pay homage to that hard working insect-the bee- the one we love to run from in real life.
The bee’s popularity in food marketing often conjures up a relatively “cuddly”, or even “sweet” image, that no other insect (with the exception of the ladybug) can get away with. Bumble Bee Tuna and Honeycomb Cereal, are branded by the bee.
But the bee can also be symbolized for love, as it sometimes is in poetry and literature. As sweet as love is, like the honey that bees make, it also, like the bee, has the power to sting and inflict pain. So bees make for great symbols in language arts.
Bees are also great topics for science, math, economics, social studies, art and history. Their lesson potential is almost limitless. Students can learn about scientific classification systems, types of bees, the symbolism of bees in literature, and the importance of bees in the ecosystem. But for now, these next few lessons will hopefully, be sweet like honey.
Bee-Related Lesson Plans:
This lesson is made for middle school students and combines language arts and science. Students learn about the different classifications of species that scientists use. Classifications like kingdom, phylum class, order, family, genus and species. They are then asked to correctly classify the honey bee, and to distinguish the difference between the African honey bee and the European honey bee. Through handouts, readings and a poster which illustrates how honey is produced, students learn the importance of bees and how essential they are to pollinating crops. Students also learn about safety precautions and what to do if stung by a bee. This is a lesson that clearly presents a large amount of information. If planned well, each component of the lesson will easily transition into the next segment. To include a standards based writing exercise, have students locate popular bee icons (like Bumble Bee Tuna, Honeycombs Cereal, Burt’s Bee Lotion) and have them list how those icons are similar or different.
Students imagine what it would be like to actually be an Africanized honey bee. They then write an original story from the bee’s point of view. They learn about the history and science of bees, and analyze how the honey bee is symbolized and represented in literature through readings such as "Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Winnie the Pooh," "Poems of Emily Dickinson," and "The Bee Tree." Students can also look for bee photographs in National Geographic or on the Internet, and construct a collage with labels to simultaneously learn about biology, and develop a richer vocabulary.
While working in groups where sub-topics such as identification, habitat, location and migration, stings, economics, precautions, and frequently asked questions are further investigated, students work on technology, writing, math, and, obviously, science standards. As groups watch the main lecture from a community screen, they gather the information necessary to work in their own individual groups. Each group is assessed based on a final group culminating task where certain questions is addressed and presented, and each sub-topic is explored via a group Power Point presentation. As each group presents, the other groups take notes at their individual computer stations. To add to this lesson, by including a current events/social studies component, you could have students research or construct some kind of flowchart, which illustrates how the recent Gulf Coast oil explosion affects the ecosystem and the honey bee.