Module 1

Pre-Assessment Activity

Familiar fruits and vegetables.
Photo by Suzanne DeJohn/NGA.

The purpose of this activity is to determine what kids think right now about the relationship between flowering plants and insects or other animals, and to begin stimulating their curiosity. It is NOT important that their observations about plants and insects are correct.

Spark participants' curiosity by catching live butterflies and placing them in the refrigerator for one half to one hour. This will make them sluggish and therefore easy to look at close up. As the butterflies warm they will seemingly come back to life, delighting the children.

Participants will:

• Review/explore what they already know about plants and insects and the interaction between them. This provides information that will be helpful in determining how much the participants learn during their experiences in the pollinator project.

Materials Needed:

• Printed chart or large sheet of butcher paper for chart
• Felt-tipped markers
• Masking tape
• Fresh flowers in a vase

Getting Ready

Prepare a large version of the What Do We Know About Plants? chart on paper. It does not need to be drawn perfectly. It is just to help organize the participants' answers and be a record of what they know and think at this point in their experience. It will be used in later activities so rolling rather than folding for storage will be helpful.

Suggested Groupings

Whole group participation

Action
(Communicating, sorting, categorizing)

1. Tape chart to wall.



2. Introduce session: "We are going to be talking about how plants and certain insects depend on each other and why it is important to us."



3. Participants brainstorm about all the plants they can name. Write the plant names on the chart. Here are some examples of prompt questions to begin the activity:
   
   — What kinds of plants to you see around you? (in your yard, your neighborhood, at school)?
   
   — Do you have vegetable gardens or fruit trees in your yard or neighborhood? What are some of the plants in these gardens?
4. Identify characteristics of the plants listed, placing a "yes," "no," or "?" in the appropriate column:
   
   — Which of these plants have flowers?
   
   — Do the flowers all bloom at the same time or at different times?
   
   — Which of these plants produce fruit? At what time of year?
   
   — Which of these plants have seeds? Where do we find the seeds?
5. Identify insects that are frequently found near the plants that have been listed and answer the following:
   
   — In what ways do you think these plants might be helpful to insects? Why do you think that?
   
   — What kinds of insects have you noticed around the plants?
   
   — Which insects pay a lot of attention to flowers?
   
   — What time of the day do the insects have an interest in the flowers?
   
   — Why do you think these insects are so interested in the flowers?


Bumble bee on tithonia. Photo by Suzanne DeJohn/NGA.

6. Congratulate participants on all they know. Transition to next activity with the statement,
   
   "As we learn more about how plants and insects depend on each other, we will find answers to some of the things we were not sure about, and perhaps learn new things that will cause us to change our some of our ideas about plants and insects."
   
   You could add some questions to assess their attitude towards insects such as bees:
   
   — What do you feel when you see a bee?
   
   — What do you think bees are good for?
   
   — What do you feel when you see a butterfly?
   
   — What do you think butterflies are good for?
   

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