Bugscope A Closer Look at Bees By: Jess Hohl Education 140 Korb, Fall 2008

What’s the Buzz? Some Information on Bees…  Bees are winged, flower eating insects with branched body hairs. They have six legs, two pairs of wings, and three segment body parts. Bees can range in size from as little as 2mm up to 4cm. Honey bees have a defensive sting, but if they lose the stinger they will die.  The most commonly recognized honey bee species (Apis mellifera Linnaeus) is native to Africa and Europe. They are subdivided into twenty-four species. The principle form of communication among honey bees is through chemicals called pheromones. They are pollinating insects that share a mutualistic relationship with plants. The pollen is a protein source and the nectar is an energy source. They carry the pollen from flower to flower, but they collect pollen primarily to feed their larvae.  Male honey bees are called drones, and female honey bees are worker bees (except if she is the queen). Honey bees collect nectar from two million flowers for every one pound of honey.  Honey bees “nest” in burrows. If bees are solitary, they only collect for their young. However, most honey bees are communal, and females make own cells in a larger hive. Bees in temperate climates (like ours) must be able to store large amounts of honey to survive the winter and maintain a colony size large enough to maintain the temperature of a winter cluster. Bees consume honey to generate this metabolic heat. Therefore, bee survival depends on a relatively large nest inside a well insulated cavity (or habitat).

My Amateur Drawing

Web Images

Up Close and Personal… Images from Bugscope Stinger of a Honey Bee Honey Bee Tip of Tongue Bee Head

Comparing Images  My initial hand drawn image included a bee with a head and a body, one pair of wings, four legs, two antennas, two eyes, a stinger, and a yellow and black striped pattern.  After looking at the web images, I discovered bees have three body segments, six legs, two pairs of wings, and a hairy body. Their legs are also segmented into three parts. The three body segments include the head, the hairy middle, and the larger back where they stinger is contained and the black and yellow pattern is present. The only parts of the bee that I was completely correct in drawing were its eyes and its antennas. I also forgot a little nose on the head.  When looking at a bee under the microscope, I was more clearly able to see the distinguishing body parts, separate segments, and smaller details (like the nose) than I would have by just looking at a bee with my eye.  Once I looked at the Bugscope images, I found even more details. In the image of the head I am able to see the bee’s tongue (which is a small version of a snake’s tongue). In a closer image, I can see the tongue has hair-like appendages on it. The eyes are more on the side of the head and the antennas are on the very top. The stinger has more of a rounder end than I expected (I drew a stinger with a pointy end).  After looking at the web and Bugscope images, I was able to see many differences to my initial drawing of a bee. My drawing represents the common aspects of bees everyone knows, but a little research has informed me more about what a bee really looks like.

NSES  This project could be applied to the NSES standards for characteristics of organisms under Life Science for K-4 or understandings about science and technology under Science and Technology for K-4. I would most likely use this project at the higher end of this level in grades third or fourth. This project could be used to discuss the different characteristics of different insects to fit into the Life Science standard, or it could be used in a lesson on the uses of different microscopes to explore what the naked eye cannot see to fit into the Science and Technology standard. In either lesson, I think Bugscope would serve as a good supplement to the content of the lesson. Since the students are younger, it would probably work best for the teacher to explore what she wants the kids to see beforehand, and then navigate around the site with specific questions and areas for her students to be made aware of. In both lessons, bringing technology into the lesson is a great way for students to see an authentic use of science in a real world application.

Bugscope in the Classroom  The technologies involved in Bugscope can introduce students to the concept of using microscopes and ESEM to see more detailed images and use these images to better comprehend and understand the subject being studied (for example, insects in the Life Science standard). Students are authentically learning why and how microscopes are used in the science world, as well as the real world. They will definitely need this skill in more advanced science classes, and in many careers (for example, in the medical or a research field).  Bugscope can also be used in other curricular areas of the classroom. A math lesson could be spent on looking at the different magnitudes and measuring scales of different images by zooming in and out. A media lesson could be done on how the website incorporated a “chat” component, graphics, and control of a microscope.  Bugscope could also be used as a supplement to a language arts lesson that involved reading a story about insects or a writing assignment on insects. Some literature sources I found on the Barnes and Noble website include “Everything Bug: What Kids Really Want to Know about Insects and Spiders,” by Cherie Winner, which is a question-answer book full of interesting information on insects. This source is informational and educational for students; however, there are also many trade books out there about bugs that would engage students’ attention. Some of these sources include: “Charlie the Caterpillar” by Dom Deluise, “Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly” by Alan Madison, and “The Very Lonely Firefly” by Eric Carie.  No matter where it is used in the curriculum, Bugscope is great way to bring technology into your teaching plans and expose students to something different and interesting.

References  animals/arthropods/insects/bees/     Ent Ent  ertheoctopus.wordpress.com/.../ ertheoctopus.wordpress.com/.../  Bugscope!