Teaching resources

Primary School

Curriculum links

Science Curriculum Levels 1-2: Living World

• Recognise that there are lots of different living things in the world and that they can be grouped in different ways.

Science Curriculum Levels 3-4: Living World

• Begin to group plants, animals and other living things into science-based classifications.

Students are working at levels 1-2 of the Curriculum if they can group similar insects together. They are working at levels 3-4 of the Curriculum when they can sort their insects into named groups such as bees/wasps, flies, beetles, or butterflies and moths (using insect books/guides if necessary)

Insect Treasure Hunt

• Here, students are given a set time in which to collect one insect each. These are easily captured in wide-mouth clear screw-top jars.
  NOTE: students may need to be told that insects have six legs and three main body parts (head, thorax, abdomen). Show some pictures or captured examples to illustrate.
• On return to class, group the insects (in their jars) so that jars with similar insects are grouped together. Use What is this Bug? or Flower visitors in New Zealand  to identify the insects you have found.
• When students have finished with the insects, they can be taken back to where they were collected from and released from their jars.
• Students can create bar graphs to show the number of each type of insect they found - this is a good introduction to the ideas of 'biodiversity' and that some living things are more common than others.

Junior Secondary School

Curriculum links

Science Curriculum Levels 3-4: Living World

• Begin to group plants, animals and other living things into science-based classifications.

Students are working at levels 3-4 of the Curriculum when they can classify their insects into species, and also group species into insect families (for example: hymenoptera or bees/wasps, diptera or flies, coleoptera or beetles, and lepidoptera or butterflies and moths).

Science Curriculum Level 5: Living World

• Investigate the interdependence of living things in an ecosystem.

Students are working at level 5 of the Curriculum when they can explain insect visitor patterns at a species of flower in terms of 'attractiveness'. The link that needs to be made is that insects need the nectar and/or pollen for food, while the plants need pollen carried from the anther to the stigma. The discussion of the investigation should mention the interdependence that exists in terms of advantages to flowers and insect OR the tradeoffs involved in ensuring resources are not wasted (eg. minimising nectar production while still achieving pollination, or not having to travel too far to get good food).

Floral visitor survey

• Ask students “If you were to go outside now and collect insects visiting flowers, what would you find?” The typical prediction made by students is "bees". Show how insects can be captured in a clear wide-mouth screw-top jar by placing the jar over a flower and closing the lid over the flower and insect. Get students to do an initial collection of insects – put in freezer overnight to kill humanely. Does initial collection match prediction?
• Use the 'Pinning insects' handout to get class to pin and identify insects with teacher assistance.
• Spend a lesson on insect diversity – get students to draw pinned insects, labeling main parts useful in identification. Use learning circles for reinforcement. Students should learn main insect species present. Use What is this Bug or the Flower visitors in New Zealand to assist with insect identification.

Challenge

• Group insects into Hymenoptera (bees/wasps), Diptera (flies), Coleoptera (beetles) and Lepidoptera (butterflies/moths).
• Come up with a question – eg. 'Are native bees more common on a native Hebe than flies?'  Make 'near instantaneous counts' of insects visiting flowers. Approach plants slowly, casting no shadow on the plant. Count all insects in a 50 x 50 cm square and count number of flowers – repeat every 10 minutes to get 5 samples per group.
• Turn into bar graphs and compare between groups.  Discuss reasons for results. From here, students can research the relationship between flowers and their pollinators, and explain their results in terms of what they have learnt about the interdependence between flowers and their pollinators.

Senior Secondary School

Curriculum Links

Science Curriculum Level 6: Living World

• Recognise the impact of natural events and human actions on a New Zealand ecosystem.

Students are working at level 6 of the Curriculum when they can link pesticide use to reduced pollinator numbers and describe how this affects an ecosystem or orchard, OR they can link the spread of the Varroa bee mite to reduced pollination and describe potential effects this will have on an ecosystem (eg. rare plants or reduced fruit set in orchards).

The World-wide Pollinator Decline

The European Pollinator Initiative.org lists some of the issues surrounding pollination. These can be used to start discussion. The article The Vanishing Bee is a useful case study that can be discussed in groups. From the discussions, students could create an action plan that they would like to see implemented for bee conservation. Although the article is from the USA, the same principles apply in New Zealand, and their action plans should address New Zealand's needs. Action plans can be turned into posters and presented to the rest of the class.

FAQ

What is a native species?

A native species has been in New Zealand since before the arrival of humans and has evolved in the environments that existed in New Zealand before human impacts.

What is an exotic species?

A species that has arrived in New Zealand since Maori or European settlement, almost always with the help of humans – accidentally or deliberate. Honeybees (Apis mellifera) were deliberately introduced for honey production, whereas German wasps (Vespula germanica) were accidentally brought in along with spare aeroplane parts.

What are social insects?

Insects that live in colonies with a queen and a range of workers that carry out specialized tasks. The individuals in the colony cooperate to look after young, feed, clean and protect the colony.  Honeybees, bumblebees (Bombus spp.), German wasps and ants are all social insects.

What is the solitary bee habit?

Our native bees are solitary. They do not live in colonies; instead, each female builds her own nest, with a separate cell for each larva