The Secret Life of Pollinators

• ST2-4LW-S  A student compares features and characteristics of living and non-living things.
• ST2-5LW-T A student describes how agricultural processes are used to grow plants and raise animals for food, clothing and shelter.

• GE2-1 A student examines features and characteristics of places and environments.
• GE2-2 A student describes the ways people, places and environments interact.

• ST2-1WS-S A student questions, plans and conducts scientific investigations, collects and summarises data and communicates using scientific representations. 
• ST2-2DP-T A student selects and uses materials, tools and equipment to develop solutions for a need or opportunity
• GE2-4 A student acquires and communicates geographical information using geographical tools for inquiry.

• Literacy capability
• Numeracy capability
• Information and Communication Technology capability
• Critical and Creative Thinking capability
• Personal and Social capability
• Ethical Understanding capability
• Intercultural Understanding capability.

Links and resources  
For more information on bees, pollination and current research see; 

• https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/species-identification/ask-an-expert/what-is-pollination/   
• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-473897/A-bees-eye-view-How-insects-flowers-differently-us.html  
• https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/Stories/2018/Bizarre-BEE-haviour-snotty-gobbles.  
• https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/stories/2018/our-bees-have-backpacks.  

Citizen science opportunities 

• Australian Pollinator Week - thttps://www.australianpollinatorweek.org.au/ 
• Wild Pollinator Count!  https://wildpollinatorcount.com/ 
• iNaturalist https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/  

Activity extensions 

The ‘Who Pollinates That?’ activity sheet could be modified for a whole class activity like below. This game will get your students thinking and moving around, to learn about pollination, develop decision making skills, and work together to solve problems.   

• Create three ‘stations’ around the classroom for students to move to.  
• Give each student an image of either a plant, bat, bird, butterfly, moth, bee, possum, or fly. 
• Ask questions about external characteristics that group the plants and pollinators differently. For example, ‘how many legs do they have?’ would result in the three stations ‘no legs’, ‘two legs’, and ‘six legs’.  
• Students then move to the station that their living thing belongs to e.g. all the insect pollinators go to ‘six legs’, the birds and bats go to ‘two legs’ and the plants go to ‘no legs’. Likewise, you can make groups based on whether they have fur, feathers, different colours or shapes, wings, leaves etc.