Pollination: Learning to code with Bee Bots
Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the workshop, students will be able to:
Identify four different types of native bees through pictures and the types of flowers each bee pollinates respectively
Code a BeeBot to find a flower and return to their nest/hive
Realize ways in which they can protect the livelihood of bees and their habitats and food sources
Essential Questions:
Are all bees the same?
What are native bees?
Why are native bees important?
How are some bees better at pollinating certain plants?
Explore our resources
Click on the images to access each resource (available as a PDF or webpage)
Take-Home Guide
Information for parents & legal guardians (available in English and Spanish).
Información para padres de familia y tutores legales (disponible en Inglés y Español).
Standards Alignments
Explore the ways our program aligns with CCSS + NGSS standards.
Vocabulary
A review of terms covered during the CiS workshop.
Activity: Online Coding
Continue practice coding skills with the bee bots online!
Activity: Native Bees
Review information about four important native bees here.
Social Emotional Learning
Students learn how difficult communicating can be- for humans and for bees!
Reading Resources
Explore our staff picks for your students!
FPC Reading List Picks
Read these FPC picks + complete reflection activities with your students!
Video Resources
Videos for kids about native bees!
Native Bees Infographics
These infographics show some different species of common bees in North America, and share some fun facts!
Challenge: Teacher Guide
Download this page to help your students complete their challenge.
Lesson Reflection
Print and send home this reflection activity to show families what their student learned.
Background Information
Protecting Native Pollinators
Native pollinators, especially bees, face extreme competition from non-native pollinator species. In the US, native bee species have declined 23% in recent years. While native bee species are usually specially suited to pollinate a few types of plants, non-native bee species can pollinate any plants, which often means that native species do not get the chance to pollinate those plants. Non-native bee species are often introduced to agricultural areas to pollinate crops by farmers that are often unaware of any consequential effects from this. Once they are introduced, it is usually out of our hands. Bees migrate and reproduce which can spread their populations uncontrollably. If native bee species had healthy and strong populations, and humans made efforts to preserve their habitats, native bee species could pollinate crops just as well as non- native species.
In North America, there are over 5,000 species of native bees, and 365 of them live in Massachusetts! Native bee species are specialized to pollinate a specific plant or plant group, making them much more efficient than the non-native, and invasive, honeybees. Squash bees actually sleep inside the flowers of squash, pumpkin, and zucchini flowers so that they can wake up inside the flower and start pollinating immediately. How efficient! Specialization also reduces competition within bees species and allows all of the species to coexist. For example, the squash bee is attracted to the yellow flowers of squash, pumpkins, gourds, zucchinis, and cucumbers, while the blue orchard mason bee is attracted to the pink flowers of apples, cherries, almonds, peaches, and plums!
How Can We Help?
As humans, we can help protect native pollinators by making bee friendly spaces. One way to start is to plant local flowers, wildflowers, and vegetation that native bees like in our backyards and greenspaces instead of just big lawns of grass. Avoiding the use of chemicals like pesticides, fertilizers, and insecticides, is another great way to help pollinators! We can also make bee baths, which are safe places for bees to drink water without drowning. These can be any shallow dish of water with small rocks or flowers for them to land and rest. Lastly, we can make a “bee hotel” out of different sized and shaped wood. Some bees like the blue orchard mason bee and the carpenter bee are solitary and make their nests inside of holes in wood.
