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Welcome to STEM/STEAM Georgia, your one-stop destination for professional resources tailored to educators in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. Explore a wealth of materials, lesson plans, and support to enhance your teaching experience and inspire student success.

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Witness how schools around Georgia are engaging their students in STEM and STEAM through project-based learning and other learning strategies.

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Slo-Mo Footage of a Bumble Bee Dislodging Pollen

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Slo-Mo Footage of a Bumble Bee Dislodging Pollen

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Slo-Mo Footage of a Bumble Bee Dislodging Pollen

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Quick Look

Grade Level: 2 (1-3)

Time Required: 45 minutes

(split into two 25-minute sessions)

Expendable Cost/Group: US $3.00

Group Size: 2

Activity Dependency: None

Subject Areas: Biology, Life Science, Problem Solving, Reasoning and Proof

NGSS Performance Expectations:

Summary By studying how bees and flowers interact with one another, we can also understand engineering practices related to our environment! In this activity, students engineer a model of a flower to test different materials' ability to pollinate another flower. In teams of two, students use the engineering design process to create a model of a flower out of construction paper and then test different materials by measuring and recording how much pollen is transferred. While discovering the most efficient material, students determine how the information they gain can help bees pollinate and they better understand the importance of bee conservation.
This engineering curriculum aligns to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Engineering Connection

Engineers use various materials in design and construction in virtually every aspect and specialty. When working with conservation efforts, engineers specialize in designing systems and practices that protect the environment and natural resources. Responsible use and sustainability are both intertwined with engineering. Environmental engineers work with different materials to best preserve and assist natural occurring processes, such as pollination, that benefit the environment.

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

Explain the process of pollination and its importance to the environment.

Plan collaboratively.

Understand the importance of models and how to build one.

Understand the engineering design process and why it is used.

Collect data by taking measurements and putting that information into a bar graph to be analyzed.

Complete multiple trials using varying iterations to find optimal results.

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

NGSS Performance Expectation

Click to view other curriculum aligned to this Performance Expectation

This activity focuses on the following Three Dimensional Learning aspects of NGSS:

Science & Engineering Practices

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

Ask questions based on observations to find more information about the natural and/or designed world(s). Define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

A situation that people want to change or create can be approached as a problem to be solved through engineering. Asking questions, making observations, and gathering information are helpful in thinking about problems. Before beginning to design a solution, it is important to clearly understand the problem.

Reason abstractly and quantitatively. (Grades K - 12) More Details
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Represent and interpret data. (Grade 2) More Details
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Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. Solve one- and two-step "how many more" and "how many less" problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs. (Grade 3) More Details
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Suggest an alignment not listed above

Materials List

Each group needs:

Flower model

4 sheets of tissue paper or construction paper (for flower petals)

pipe cleaner (for flower stem)

scissors

tape (masking, Scotch, painters)

Pollen

paper bowl (to hold the "pollen" - cheese puffs)

3-4 cups of cheese puffs (one for each design iteration and test)

Materials to test

2 strips of Velcro, ~75mm to 100 mm long

2 wooden popsicle sticks

square of tin foil, 50 mm x 50 mm

sponge (cut in half)

(optional) square of felt, 50 mm x 50 mm

For the entire class to share:

Worksheets and Attachments
Visit [www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/uof-2627-pollinate-flower-materials-design] to print or download.

Pre-Req Knowledge

Basic understanding of bee pollination and plant parts.

Familiarity with gathering data to put into a bar graph.

Introduction/Motivation

Raise your hand: who likes to eat fruit? What are some of your favorite kinds of fruit to eat? (Let students raise their hand to share their favorite fruits.) Do you know that pollen and the process of pollination are needed to produce these yummy fruits? What is pollination? What are some ways it gets accomplished? Can you think of some insects that pollinate flowers?

One insect that is critical in pollination is the honeybee, which is what makes all our food production possible. Honeybees pollinate billions of dollars' worth of crops each year, including more than 130 different kinds of fruits and vegetables. Managed honeybees are vital to American agriculture because they pollinate a wide variety of crops, contributing to food diversity, security, and profitability. There is a huge problem, however, because over the course of the past 50 years the bee population has declined. Beehives are collapsing due to disease, pesticides, and poor nutrition. In fact, research shows that bees are disappearing at rates that are "consistent with mass extinction" and could be gone within a few decades. Conservation efforts are underway that include planting cover crops, planting wildflowers and native grasses in buffer areas and areas not in production, and improving management of grazing lands.

What is another way we can help honeybees? Yes, we can help by finding ways to aid in their job of pollination. A bee gathers pollen its whole life by landing on flowers and collecting it on their legs. They then travel to other flowers, usually of the same kind, and deposit the pollen to that flower and so on. Many plants require this kind of pollen distribution, known as cross-pollination, to produce viable seeds. The business of collecting pollen requires a lot of energy, and so many flowers attract and reward bees with nectar, a mixture of water and sugars produced by plants.

Ecological engineering uses ecology and engineering to predict, design, construct or restore, and manage ecosystems that integrate "human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both." If we can figure out how to effectively transfer pollen on to the bee, we can design and build something to help bees pollinate even more flowers.

So, today we will build a model of a flower and simulate pollen using cheese puffs. We will test various materials by collecting pollen with each and measuring/analyzing the samples. From there we will design and engineer a tool to help bees collect and disperse pollen using some of the steps of the engineering design process.

Procedure
Background
How do bees pollinate flowers? Bees make excellent pollinators because most of their life is spent collecting pollen, a source of protein that they feed to their developing offspring. When a bee lands on a flower, the hairs all over the bees' body attract pollen grains through electrostatic forces. Stiff hairs on their legs enable them to groom the pollen into specialized brushes or pockets on their legs or body, and then carry it back to their nest. Individual bees tend to focus on one kind of flower at a time, which means it is more likely that pollen from one flower will be transferred to another flower of the same species by a particular bee. Many plants require this kind of pollen distribution, known as cross-pollination, to produce viable seeds. The business of collecting pollen requires a lot of energy, and so many flowers attract and reward bees with nectar, a mixture of water and sugars produced by plants. Choose from one or more of the following videos for visuals and more background information:
Before the Activity

Give each student a Pre-Assessment. Have them do the pre-assessment.

Gather materials and make copies (or have students copy in science journals) of the Pollen Collection Data Worksheet.

Show the diagram of the engineering design process to the students and explain that it is a process that engineers follow when they are designing a new product, process, or system.

Day 1 With the Students

1. Divide the class into teams of two or three students.

2. Hand out the group materials and worksheets.

3. Give students 5 minutes to imagine and brainstorm how they will make a flower out of the available materials: tissue paper (or construction paper) and pipe cleaner using scissors and tape or glue.

4. Have students create their flower model out of the tissue paper (or construction paper) and pipe cleaner using scissors and tape or glue.

Creating models of flowers.

1. Direct the groups to put the simulated pollen (1 cup of cheese puffs) in their paper bowl and set it in the middle of their flower.

2. Have students pick the first material they want to test (e.g., Velcro, wooden Popsicle stick, tin foil, or sponge).

3. To test their first material:

1. Students swirl their testing material around the bowl of cheese puffs one time. Their material will pick up no, little, some, a lot of the cheese ball "cheese" which represents the pollen. (Note: It helps if the teacher models this step for the students.)

2. Once the testing material has been swirled around the bowl once, students take their material with "pollen" on it to the balance scale and gently shake it off so the "pollen" falls onto the scale. They should measure the amount of "pollen" in grams.

3. They should record the weight of the "pollen" in the chart on the Pollen Collection Data Worksheet.

1. Students should repeat steps a. through c. with each material.

2. Each group then organizes their data into a bar graph and determines which type of material collects the most pollen.

3. Have brief class discussion about their findings. Why do some materials pick up the pollen easier than others?

Day 2 With the Students

1. Put students into teams of 2-3 and hand out the materials to build their tool or device.

2. Give each student a Pollination Worksheet.

3. (Imagine) Give students 5 minutes to individually draw or write down their ideas in the Brainstorming section of the worksheet for tools or devices that could help the bees pollinate flowers using only the materials available. (Let the students be as creative as they want in their brainstorming.)

4. Give students 5 minutes to share their brainstorming ideas with their team.

5. (Plan) Have each team pick ONE design to create and test. They should draw a picture of their planned device in the Design section of the worksheet. They should use different colors or carefully label the different materials they want to use.

6. (Create) Have students create their tool or device out of the available materials.

7. (Test) Let students test their devices by swirling it around the bowl of cheese puffs one time. They should then take their tool or device with the "pollen" on it to the balance scale and gently shake it off so the "pollen" falls onto the scale. They should measure and record the amount of "pollen" in grams.

Using a model flower to "pollenate" a design.

1. (Improve) Have students draw a picture or write how they will change their device to collect more pollen.

2. (Optional, if time) Let student improve upon their designs and retest as they did for their initial design.

3. Have brief class discussion about their findings.

Vocabulary/Definitions

bar graph: A graph in the form of boxes of different heights, with each box representing a different value or category of data, and the heights representing frequencies.

conclusion: A statement based on experimental measurements and observations.

conservation: Act of preserving, guarding, or protecting; the keeping (of a thing) in a safe or entire state.

data: A collection of information, especially in a scientific or computational context, or with the implication that it is organized.

pollen: A powder, produced by the male part of a flower, that causes the female part of the same type of flower to produce seeds.

pollinate: To apply pollen to a flower.

Assessment
Pre-Activity Assessment
Pre-Assessment: Have students complete the Pre-Assessment.
Activity Embedded (Formative) Assessment
Data Collection: Students complete the Pollen Collection Data Worksheet and create a bar graph.
Post-Activity (Summative) Assessment
Post-Assessment: Have students complete the Post-Assessment.

Safety Issues

Remind students not to eat the cheese puffs that they are using for the activity.

Provide alternate gloves or materials if any students have allergies to latex or any other materials being tested.

Activity Scaling

For lower grades, pre-cut the flower petals.

For upper grades, use rulers to measure the flower and pollen to bring more math into the activity.

Copyright © 2021 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original © 2021 University of Florida

Contributors Chelsey Simmons, PI, University of Florida MRET Program; Ryan Pacheco, 1st grade classroom teacher

Supporting Program Multidisciplinary Research Experiences for Teachers of Elementary Grades, Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, University of Florida

Acknowledgements

This curriculum was based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under RET grant no. EEC 1711543- Engineering for Biology: Multidisciplinary Research Experiences for Teachers in Elementary Grades (MRET) through the College of Engineering at the University of Florida. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Last modified: May 27, 2022

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To Pollinate or Not to Pollinate - Activity

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By studying how bees and flowers interact with one another, we can also understand engineering practices related to our environment! In this activity, students engineer a model of a flower to test different materials' ability to pollinate another flower.

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Nursery dedicated to providing sustainably grown and sourced native plants from Georgia and the southeast.

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Nature Journaling

In celebration of Earth Day 2020, we present a 5-part series on creating a nature journal to help you get outside and connect with nature.

You should have everything you need at home: paper or a journal, a pencil or colored pencils, and a favorite sitting spot. Personalize your journal however you'd like in order to make it your own.

have a question about online learning?

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Online Learning - Video Resources - Chattahoochee Nature Center

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According to researchers with the center, honey bee populations in the United States and Europe have suffered large losses. Exposure to parasites and pesticides, climate change, a loss of the natural abundance of flora due to increased land-use, and habitat destruction are a few of the causes researchers associate with honey bee population decline. Several studies show that in the United States alone, beekeepers have lost about 30 percent of their colonies every year since 2006, with total annual losses reaching as high as 40 percent. Similarly, many populations of wild bees are also showing declines, with many species now threatened or endangered.

These declines are a major cause for concern for those in the agricultural industry as well as consumers. Nearly 75 percent of major food crops, including fruits, vegetables, and nuts depend on honey bees and other pollinators, which equates to about one in every three bites of food we eat. In Pennsylvania alone, these crops contribute $260 million to the economy annually.

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Hundreds of Millions of Bees Mysteriously Dying

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Hundreds of millions of bees mysteriously dying

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A website to help communicate the goals and findings of the Xerces Society Bumble Bee Atlas Projects.

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A pollinator is any creature that helps carry pollen from one flower to another allowing the plant to become fertilized and produce fruit, seeds and young plants. While some plants are self-pollinating or rely on the wind or water to do pollination, around 75% (maybe more) of the flowing plants on earth are pollinated by insects, birds and mammals. Many of these plants are important for our food, medicine, fuel or fiber. Most people are familiar with bees and butterflies as pollinators, but moths, flies, beetles, birds such as hummingbirds and even some small mammals can be pollinators. While the honey bee is the most well-known, there are over 4000 species of native bees that provide a majority of our pollination.

Why are pollinators important?

More than 1,200 food crops depend on pollinators. This includes fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Without pollinators, we would not have strawberries, blueberries, chocolate, pumpkins, squash and many other foods. Even cotton can benefit from pollinators and without bees, we would not have honey. Other plants provide clean air, stabilize the soil and provide food and cover for wildlife.

How do pollinators benefit wildlife?

Many of the flowers, shrubs or trees that attract pollinators also produce fruit or seed that many wildlife species use. These plants also provide cover for nesting birds and mammals. Most pollinators are insects and many of our birds rely on insects to feed their growing young.

Why should you establish pollinator habitat on your farm?

There are many other benefits to establishing pollinator habitat on your farm. Researchers from Iowa State University have found that setting aside a small portion of your field in native vegetation can reduce sediment loss by up to 97%, nitrogen runoff by 70%, and phosphorus runoff by 77%. In addition, they found that these areas can more than triple pollinator populations. They also found no additional weed problems in fields with this type of habitat. Learn more at www.prairiestrips.org.

Pollinators are in decline.

Many pollinators are declining due to habitat loss, disease and contaminates.

How can you help?

Maintain buffers along riparian areas, edges of fields, and areas of low production in the field. Diverse native vegetation can provide early season flowering plants and over winter cover.

Maintain snags, where it is safe to do so, in wooded areas. Many native pollinators use these for cover and nesting.

Install hedgerows and windbreaks. These woody vegetation clumps provide food and shelter when crops are not actively growing.

Maintain native vegetation clumps in odd/unused areas of the farm. Mow or burn these areas in the early spring. Leave standing vegetation through the winter. Many native pollinators overwinter in the hollow stems of this vegetation. Avoid disturbing the soil in these areas since many native bees nest underground.

If you are interested in how you can incorporate this type of habitat into your operation contact the private lands program at 229-420-1183 or www.georgiawildlife.com/landowners.

Read about how to get started with Wildflower Meadow Planting Basics.

There are several resources listed below that can help you get started.

The Xerces Society is a leader in invertebrate conservation and has a ton of information on pollinators and how to create habitat for them. They even have an assessment guide to help you determine if your yard or farm is suitable for pollinators. This page is specifically for the Southeastern US.

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The Georgia Native Plant Initiative has some great information on restoring native plants, nurseries that carry natives, management of invasive plants and even a section on native plants for bats!

Agricultural information:

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Pollinators | Department Of Natural Resources Division