Download: Introduction AG-SEEDLINGS Reading Passage 3rd-5th
Overview: In this lesson, students will learn the importance of a healthy diet for living organisms. Students will learn about the importance of agriculture and how humans can affect food crops. Students will learn that the key role to a healthy agriculture is having a thriving population of pollinators. The class will hear stories from STEM-related careers in the agricultural industry and the importance of pollinators for our food.Students will gain knowledge and design their own pollinator garden. Students will choose different types of plants based on; native and non-native species, color, and growing season. Students will use math to measure their garden bed and will use formulas to find the area/perimeter of their garden bed. Students will be able to share the similarities and differences of their pollinator garden beds.
Overview: Students will learn about the importance of studying plant structures to understand how it grows. Students will learn the study of plants, Botany. The class will learn about the naturalist, Charles Darwin and his study of the Star Orchid. They will learn that Darwin was able to determine that the only pollinator able to drink nectar from this plant was the Wallance’s Sphinx Moth, known for its extremely long tongue. Darwin was able to predict this pollinator by investigating in a flower dissection of the Star Orchid. Students will model similar duties of a botanist by investigating in their own flower dissection. In a science journal, students will illustrate, label, and describe their given flower. Students will also predict what possible pollinator(s) would visit their flower based on the plant’s internal and external structures.
Overview: In this lesson, students will learn about open-source data and what it means to be a citizen scientist. Students will use the app, Seek by iNaturalist to collect data at the school’s local ecosystem. Students can take and upload photos of plants and insects found outside then collaborate with other citizen scientists to determine what type of species they found. Students can also find the migration patterns of these insects and species from other collected sources of data. Students will learn the importance of using technology as a tool and as a form of communication with other informal scientists from around the world.
Overview: In this lesson, students will learn about the key role of bilateral symmetry in pollinators and flowers. Research scientists have observed the phenomenon of pollinator attraction to the color and to symmetrical appearance of plants. In fact, many animals and insects are symmetrical. This symmetry is important to the reproduction and survival of plants. Students will take this given knowledge and create bilateral symmetrical pollinators. Students will have to draw the mirror image by using mathematical shapes and lines. Students will then use a method of painting and folding to create a symmetrical insect and/or flower.
Overview: Students will learn about the importance of communication among species, focusing on the dwarf honey bee, Apis florea. Students will learn about the Waggle Dance, a way for bees to inform and receive information about new food sources. Students will also learn about the importance of collecting pollen and nectar as a food source for the whole hive. Students will participate in modeling this process through embodiment. As teams, students will act as worker bees in a hive. Students will have to work together and dance as a form of communication to explain where the local food sources are. Students will model similar movements bees use when demonstrating the Waggle Dance. Students will also receive time to discuss and reflect on ways to improve communication within their own hive.