Day Three

Now that break is over, the project has started back up again. At today’s sessions, the students worked on prototypes to visually represent each of their designs. They used cardboard, tape, aluminum foil, jars, cans, paper, straws, and the tools in the shop for their constructions. This helped them to display their ideas, but it also helped them to figure out which aspects of their designs might cause a problem. In doing that, many of the students realized that they were not following all of the requirements in the design brief. It served as a learning experience because it helped them work with prototyping while also forcing them to problem solve. Towards the end of the session, the students and I reviewed the design brief and I answered any questions that they had so far about the project.

Students use scroll saws to cut cardboard for their prototypes.
The students’ prototypes help them to visualize what their design will look once constructed.

Day Two

To begin our session today, I spoke with the students about the research document they were to complete. We talked about any questions that they had, and then reviewed some things they found interesting about different pollinators. This brought us into a discussion about why the students view pollinators as important both to each of them and to our environment as a whole. After we finished talking about their pollinator research, I instructed the kids to open the bee hotel design brief, which is a document that outlines the criteria their design should meet. They were then free to begin researching and designing their bee hotels, which was to be done individually. When we meet in the future, the students should each have a completed, rough design so that they can collaborate on another design once they are grouped into pairs.

Students begin working on their hotel designs.
STEM students research bee hotels.
Two students look at images of hotels for inspiration.
A STEM student researches which materials should be used in a bee hotel.
Students work on finding designs for bee hotels.

Day One

Today, December 11, was the first day of instruction that I had with the students. I did a quick introduction about what my project would be about, told them about myself, and talked to them about why bees are important. Then I allowed time for questions to be asked. The students seemed excited about the project, and they came across as creative and eager to learn. After my presentation, they were introduced to a research assignment. They will need to do some research about why bees are important and how they contribute to our ecosystems and community. In the next session, we will begin by reviewing the research assignment, and then the students will start brainstorming designs for bee hotels in their groups.