Lesson Idea

7 Scientific Articles about Bees

This collection of adapted research articles introduces students to research on bees. Engage students with standards-matched adaptations, introductory video content, comprehension questions, and vocabulary to further the lesson outcomes. Each adapted article also comes with additional suggestions for activities to enhance the readers’ understanding and make the class more exciting.

1. How do bumblebees play?

Abstract: Have you watched cute cat videos or funny dog compilations? Or primates “monkeying around”? Then you know that mammals love to play. Even the dancing cockatiel has gone viral! But have you ever considered whether insects play “for fun”? We did an experiment to test whether bumble bees take part in object play. We wanted to see whether they would interact and play with wooden balls. We found that the bumble bees did play with a ball-rolling action. Their behavior fulfilled our expectations of play in animals. What’s more, they also found it rewarding! We ruled out the possibility that the ball rolling was an attempt to look for food or to mate. This suggests that bumble bees may be more capable of feeling than we had thought!

This article is suitable for elementary school and middle school students. An audio version is available in English. This article comes with an SJK Academy Research Recap video to help students summarize the content.

Key terms: animal behavior, bees, insects
Scientific figures: pictograph
Scientific method: experiment, observation

2. What happens to mother bees’ brains as they age?

Abstract: You’re probably familiar with honeybees and bumblebees. But did you know that there are over 20,000 species of bees, and most of them are solitary? In worker honeybees, certain brain areas grow larger as the insects get older and have more experiences. We wanted to know if this was also the case for solitary bees. We studied a particular type of solitary carpenter bee named Ceratina calcarata. We collected female bees of three different ages. Then we measured their brains and other body parts under a microscope. As expected, older female bees had smaller ovaries and more worn wings. But surprisingly, older bees had smaller brains than younger bees. We think that female C. calcarata bees invest their energy and resources into reproduction, rather than growing bigger brains.

This article is suitable for middle school students. An audio version is available in English, and a written translation is available in Bulgarian. This article includes an Ask-A-Scientist video with the original researcher Dr. Adam Smith discussing bee socialization.

Key terms: animal behavior, bees, insects, mother, neuroscience, pollination
Scientific figures: box and whisker plot
Scientific method: experiment, microscopy

3. Why do bees use social distancing?

Abstract: Honey bees are important insects in many of the ecosystems around us. However, they are constantly exposed to many threats. They are particularly vulnerable to disease and parasites because they live in colonies. Once a member of the colony gets infected, it is very easy for the disease to spread. This is why honey bees have some specific behaviors to help them fight infections. In this study we wanted to see how honey bee behavior changes when Varroa destructor mites come into the colony. We found that in infected colonies there was more social distancing between different types of bees. We also discovered that the infection led to higher interactions between bees of the same type. We think this helps bees fight the spread of the parasite.

This article is suitable for middle school students. An audio version is available in English. This articles comes with an SJK Academy Research Recap video to help students summarize the content.

Key terms: bees, insects, parasites
Scientific figures: bar graph
Scientific method: experiment, field study, high resolution filming, observation

4. What kinds of landscapes keep bees healthy?

Abstract: Imagine a world without apples, watermelons, and sunflowers… It doesn’t sound very good, does it? Unfortunately, it could actually happen. Bees help these (and many other) plants grow, but they have been dying. One reason for this is that bees are suffering from more diseases. But where do these bee diseases come from? Does it have to do with our changing landscapes? To find out, we collected 890 bumble bees and screened them for three pathogens. We also looked at the types and qualities of the landscapes where we found these bees. Then we created a mathematical model to help us work out how different landscapes affect bees. We found out that landscapes with lots of food (flowers) for bees and more nesting sites led to healthier bees. Our results highlight the need to protect natural landscapes to conserve wild bees.

This article is suitable for middle school and lower high school students. An audio version is available in English, and a written translation is available in Spanish. This article comes with a full Lesson Plan (PDF) that ends with a hands-on activity where students build bee habitats.

Key terms: bees, infectious diseases, insects, pollination
Scientific figures: scatter plot
Scientific method: data reconstruction, experiment, field study, PCR (polymerase chain reaction), representative sampling, scientific modeling

5. How do bees choose what to eat?

Abstract: Hard-working bees play a crucial role in our ecosystem, helping plants reproduce. They are also vital for us – they help produce a lot of our food! Bees have a special menu of their own: they eat pollen and drink nectar from flowers. We wanted to know if honey bees can evaluate the quality of the pollen to see if it has the right mixture of different proteins and fats. We tested three types of pollen to see if they help bees grow. We then gave the bees a choice between the three types of natural pollen and between modified pollen. This allowed us to analyze the bees’ preferences and to conclude that honey bees either can’t or don’t evaluate the nutritional values of pollen.

This article is suitable for lower high school students. A written translation is available in Spanish.

Key terms: animal behavior, bees, dietary choices, insects, pollination
Scientific figures: bar graph, data table
Scientific method: data extrapolation, data validation, DNA sequencing, experiment, microscopy, representative sampling

6. How do pesticides get into honey?

Abstract: Honey is nature’s sweetest gift. But did you know that honey may contain pesticides? Farmers use pesticides to kill pests that harm their crops. But pesticides also hurt honey bees and other beneficial insects. Furthermore, when bees collect nectar from flowers which received pesticide treatments, these chemicals make their way into the honey. In the past, scientists found neonicotinoids (a class of pesticides) in about half of the honey samples collected in the United Kingdom. Since 2014, the European Union banned neonicotinoids in flowering crops that bees visit. We wanted to know how effective this policy was. Does the UK honey still contain neonicotinoids? Here, we collected and tested honey samples from beekeepers across the UK. We found that about a fifth of all honey contained neonicotinoids. These chemicals are not at dangerous levels for human health but may harm the bees in the long run.

This article is suitable for middle school and lower high school students.

Key terms: bees, insects, pollination
Scientific figures: histogram, map
Scientific method: experiment, policy analysis, representative sampling

7. Do bees get the flu?

Abstract: Do bees scare you? Instead of fearing them, you should appreciate their role in our ecosystem. In addition to providing us honey, they are responsible for pollinating much of the food we eat. Unfortunately, wild bees and honey bees (Apis mellifera) are dying. Many honey bees die because of viruses and conservationists worry that these viruses may transfer to wild bees. We tested 169 wild bees for five common honey bee viruses. We found them in over 80% of the wild bees, yet the viral load (virus concentration in the bee’s body) was low. We infected two wild bee species with high doses of viruses, and they didn’t get sick immediately. This hopeful finding suggests that honey bees and wild bees can co-exist even if some are infected with viruses. To be sure, though, we need to test if other viruses infect the many wild bee species that co-occur with honey bees.