There are about 20,000 species of bees worldwide. Bees differ in many ways such as their size, nesting and foraging behaviors, body features such as body hair, the length of the tongue, and the form of the pollen-carrying structure. Many bees are black or gray, but others are bright yellow, red, or metallic green or blue. Bees rely on flowers for food, pollen is their main source of vitamins, minerals, protein, and fat. They also collect nectar for energy. A common misconception about bees is that they all have stingers when really there are some sting-less bees. It takes bees between 16 and 24 days to fully develop from their egg. The queen bee lays an egg in a comb and then it hatches into a larva. While in its larva stage it gets fed by other bees and then builds itself a cocoon. From the cocoon the larva turns into a pupa and develops its wings, eyes, and legs. The bee chews its way out of its cell and becomes an adult. The queen bee mates early on in her life and with multiple partners. Bees mate in mid-flight and the queen bee has anywhere from 1-40 partners. She stores the semen from her mates for the remainder of her life which could be up to 3 years.

- I added more texture to the bee that I had originally drawn. I added hair to the bee because most bees have hair and are not smooth. - I added gray and green to my bee because I learned that the colors of bees range from black, gray, yellow, red, green, or blue.

Bee wing with hooks Not all bees have stingers Bee hair

Bugscope applies to the NSES standard: Science and Technology. For levels K-4 Bugscope helps to distinguish between objects made by human and natural objects. For all ages Bugscope helps kids learn a hands on way to incorporate science with technology. This is a very authentic way of learning because you are interacting with people, asking questions, observing pictures, and sharing ideas. It is a great way for kids to learn especially in such a technological world. Bugscope allows the kids to explore different insects and see characteristics that they may have never knew existed. This program allows the students to see things that without a special microscope the human eye cannot see. Some other curricular activities that you could apply bug scope to are art and literature. Viewing and analyzing these digital pictures incorporates art, and taking observations, writing new ideas, and researching incorporates literature. Bugscope allows students to learn from a new perspective. You could connect your classroom science textbook to Bugscope in many different ways depending on the grade level. Elementary grades for instance could use their textbook to learn about a microscope or the scientific method and then apply that to Bugscope by looking at the microscopic images and demonstrating the steps to the scientific method while they explore the website. Another book could be a book on insects, for instance The Big Bug Book by Margery Facklam. You could have the students compare the images in the book to those from the Bugscope, and then have them write a summary of their similarities and differences. Lastly, for younger kids you could have them use their English or Spelling books to make sure that they use proper grammar and punctuation while they interact and type to different people on Bugscope. It would be good practice for them to write complete sentences and avoid sentence fragments. They will also get good practice with using descriptive words. You could make each students incorporate good spelling and use some of the vocabulary words that they learned in class.