The discussions we had following their rehearsal provided key feedback on opportunities to improve the lesson and to help to make them more comfortable when they lead the lesson. McKenna: After this initial step, students conducted a rehearsal where they taught the lesson to their peers and me as if they were at the Trotter with students. Then it didn’t take long for us to think of everyone’s favorite messy snack to use as pollen! I brought up how I had learned about the waggle dance in an undergraduate class I had taken years ago, and we knew that we had to have the students do it as they buzzed around looking for flowers. We knew that they were an active group of students, so we wanted to incorporate movement into the lesson, which is when the idea of students becoming the pollinators came to mind. Nicole Zwicker: We started brainstorming creative ways to make pollination really click for second graders. With the topic of insects being the focus, Nicole, Katie, and Avery decided to focus on bees. Brenda and I structure each semester around the science topics from Boston Public Schools while providing opportunities for students to build from their own passions and interests. TJ McKenna: At the Trotter, we work closely with Brenda Richardson-a veteran science teacher and all-around rock-star mentor-to observe high-quality science teaching, with the goal of BU students eventually taking their turn to lead a lesson. What gave you the idea to teach this specific lesson to this age group? We spoke to them and McKenna for this Q&A.īU Wheelock: In “Buzzing Around,” you teach second-grade children about how bees pollinate flowers. Saulnier, Yermal, and Zwicker are now all teachers with their own classrooms.
At the end of the lesson, the class reconvenes to discuss what they’ve learned-and do the waggle dance again, this time just for fun. Tutors stationed around the classroom pretend to be flowers with some (but not all) holding “nectar” (in the form of Cheeto Puffs) while students go around the classroom to pollinate flowers and use a waggle dance to show one another where the good flowers are, just as a real bee would. Teachers then divide the students up into three simulated bee colonies. To illustrate the process, students are shown a video of a bee pollinating a flower.
Nectar menu series#
As part of an Elementary Science Methods class, McKenna and his students visited a second-grade classroom at the Trotter to teach students about entomology, or the study of insects.Īt the beginning of “Buzzing Around,” teachers introduce a series of intriguing images and short videos related to bees and pollination, including the “waggle dance” that bees use to tell each other where to find nectar. “Buzzing Around” grew out of a partnership between BU Wheelock and the William Monroe Trotter School in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Published in Entomology Plans for Elementary Educators (University of Nebraska), the lesson plan uses role-playing, question-and-answer sessions, and video to engage young learners in exploring the relationship between bees and flowers. TJ McKenna, a lecturer in science education at BU Wheelock, was more than ready to meet the challenge when he and his students Avery Saulnier, Katie Yermal, and Nicole Zwicker (all Wheelock’20) developed “Buzzing Around,” a lesson plan for second graders on bee pollination. Teaching science to young children requires creativity, thoughtfulness, flexibility, and an unerring sense of what students will respond to.
It’s no mean feat to translate complex biological processes into lessons that second graders will easily grasp. You’ll also find a Flutter Gordo in this area that will only consume nectar.About Us News & Events (L-to-r, standing) Katie Yermal, Avery Saulnier, and Nicole Zwicker lead the “Buzzing Around” lesson at the William Trotter School in Boston. You can find lots of Moondew Nectar in the large area to the far-south of Starlight Strand, where many Flutter Slimes congregate. Only go to Starlight Strand at night to search. Large blue flowers will appear on trees and glow in the dark - this is where you can harvest Moondew Nectar.
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