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Spring STEAM Challenge - Pollinator Pathways!
📺 BREAKING NEWS: Pollinator Pathways Crisis
(Read in your best serious news anchor voice.)
“Good morning. We interrupt your regular programming for a special report. Across the country, pollinators are disappearing at an alarming rate. Bees. Butterflies. Hummingbirds. Scientists report that habitat loss, pollution, and expanding cities are making it harder for these vital species to survive. Without pollinators, many of our favorite foods — strawberries, almonds, apples, even chocolate — could become scarce. Let’s go live to our field reporter.”
“Thank you. I’m standing here in what used to be a thriving meadow. Today, it’s surrounded by roads, sidewalks, and buildings. Pollinators must travel long distances between safe feeding areas. Many don’t make it. Experts say the solution may not come from large machines or new laws — but from engineers with creative ideas.” (Pause. Look at students.) “That’s right. YOU. Today, you have been selected as Environmental Engineering Specialists. Your mission: Design and build a Pollinator Pathway — a safe route that allows pollinators to travel across dangerous terrain and reach vital flowers. Your pathway must:
• Help pollinators move safely
• Overcome obstacles
• Use eco-friendly or recycled materials
• And survive testing conditions
The future of our ecosystems depends on innovative solutions. Back to you, Engineers.”
Objective:
Design a miniature garden or landscape that allows a "pollinator" (marble) to travel from one flower to another, collecting and delivering pollen while avoiding real-world obstacles. Follow the steps below!
(Teachers - think of this challenge like the old style Labyrinth game with the marble but without holes)
STEP 1: Obstacles!
This can be done in a few ways.
Choice A - Students can use a regular 6-sided die. Each number corresponds to a pollinator challenge.
Students can:
Roll once (K-2)
Roll twice (3-6)
Choice B - Students can just choose their obstacles to include in their design.
Adjust it by grade:
K-3
Start at a hive and stop at 2 flowers
Choose only 1-2 obstacles
Pathways can be larger
4-6
Add a third flower
More obstacles or danger zones
Smaller pathways or wall height constraint
STEP 2: Plan Your Pollinator Pathway
Student Planning Sheet:
Draw your garden design (include flowers, start/end points, and obstacles)
List materials you'll use for the pollinator and pathway
Write how your design will help the pollinator succeed
If you would like to use them:
STEP 3: Build and Test!
Use your materials to construct your pathway on a cardboard base.
Test your pollinator's ability to travel from the hive to flower A to flower B (and so on).
Track success: Did it reach the flower? Did it touch any obstacles?
Redesign and improve if needed.
Possible Materials:
Shoebox lid or cardboard base
Craft sticks (different sizes)
Paper tubes, pipe cleaners, string, straws, cardboard scraps
Pom-poms (pollen) or old game pieces
Tape (scotch, masking, blue, etc.) or Glue
Scissors
A few marbles for the class to share
Where can you get materials (other than purchasing it all yourself)?
Ask students to each bring in something
Ask parents to donate items
Science Center - I can give you some of these basic items! Just give me a bit of notice...
See if anything is already in your school's STEAM Lab
Some Videos about Pollinators, Pollination, and More...
Pollinators and Pollination for Kids - (6:50)
TedED Video - The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees (Good for the older students, 5th or 6th grade) - (3:45)
Don't forget about the Engineering Design Process! Give them time to IMPROVE their designs, to TEST them out, and SHARE their results!
Engineers and scientists and many other people in multiple industries do this all the time!
This is also a great time to talk about FAILURE!
Failure is part of life! Failure is OK and good for us! Famous people, inventors, heroes, and more FAIL all the time! We would never improve if we didn't fail!
Extensions:
Add energy efficiency - shortest path "wins," if you didn't have it before, have a wall height constraint; add more danger zones
Research: What are the biggest threats to bees and butterflies today?
Art: Design a pollinator friendly garden poster
ELA: Write a story from the perspective of a busy bee navigating your obstacle course.
Careers:
Environmental Engineer: An engineer who designs solutions to protect the environment — like improving air and water quality or creating systems that help ecosystems stay healthy.
Ecologist: A scientist who studies how living things (like plants, animals, and insects) interact with each other and their environment.
Landscape Architect: A designer who plans outdoor spaces like parks, gardens, and green spaces to be beautiful, useful, and good for the environment.
Urban Planner: A professional who plans how cities and communities are built — deciding where homes, roads, parks, and green spaces should go.
Share with parents or during STEAM Night! Have students show how they made their designs. Maybe even set up a station for the families to try to make their own!
See the STEM Challenge Resources page for:
More on the Engineering Design Process
Planning Tools
Pre and Post Activity Ideas
Don't forget to REFLECT!
Don't forget to REFLECT!
Questions to ask the students:
What was the most effective design? Why?
What was the biggest challenge your pollinator faced?
How did your obstacle(s) affect the design?
What frustrated you about this challenge?
If we did this challenge again in a month, what would you do differently?
How well do you think your group collaborated, cooperated, and communicated to each other?
How do real-world pollinators deal with these challenges?
Why Reflect in STEM?
Why Reflect in STEM?
Reflection in STEM is essential to both student understanding and teacher evaluation of students’ learning. Reflecting helps students make connections, understand their successes and failures, and become aware of their learning. Reflections help teachers identify where different students are in their learning process.
MOST IMPORTANTLY - HAVE FUN!!!
K–2 NGSS Connections
K–2 NGSS Connections
K-LS1-1 – Animals (including insects) use external parts to survive.
K-ESS3-1 – Humans impact the environment (and can help protect it).
2-LS2-2 – Animals depend on plants for survival.
K-2-ETS1-1, 2, 3 – Engineering design cycle.
3–5 NGSS Connections
3–5 NGSS Connections
3-LS2-1 – Organisms form groups to survive.
3-LS4-3 – Organisms survive best in suitable habitats.
4-LS1-1 – How animals use structures to survive.
5-ESS3-1 – Communities use science ideas to protect the environment.
3-5-ETS1-1, 2, 3 – Engineering solutions to environmental challenges.
Middle School NGSS Connections
Middle School NGSS Connections
MS-LS2-2 – Matter cycles & energy flow in ecosystems.
MS-LS2-4 – Changes to ecosystems impact species.
MS-LS2-5 – Humans can protect ecosystem services.
MS-ESS3-3 – Design solutions to reduce human impacts.
MS-ETS1-1, 2 – Defining problems & evaluating solutions.
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