BugScope

What and Where?

Bumble bees are large, hairy, and typically black and yellow. They collect and carry pollen on their hind legs to transfer it to their colony or nest, which are found primarily in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Bumble bees can be encountered foraging at flowers, but some species nest around people’s houses.

About the Colony…

Their colonies consist of a queen, undeveloped females, and males (drones) and are a social organization, each member works tirelessly to contribute, with the queen being the leader and main egg-layer. “Members engage in most of the activities of a human society-gathering food, caring for offspring, constructing a home, defending it, and regulating the environment inside it. Bumble bees have very few natural enemies.”

The Life Cycle

• Only the mated queens survive the winter, and begin looking for nests the next early spring. Normally, nests are established in an abandoned rodent or bird nest in the ground. The solitary queen begins the colony by collecting pollen and forming it into a small lump. She lays six to eight worker eggs on this pollen. After four to five days, the eggs hatch into larvae, which begin to feed on the lump of pollen. After about 21 days, they develop from egg to adult and take over all the colony duties, except egg laying. The colony produces reproductives (new queens and males) in late summer. They leave the nest to take mating flights and the successfully mated queens fly to the ground and hibernate 2 to 5 inches deep in the soil. The production of reproductives signals the end of the colony’s life. The overwintering queens emerge the next spring to complete their life cycle.

Compare and Contrast

• After looking at BugScope images, I have realized my drawing of a bumble bee is not entirely accurate. Bumble bees are hairier than my picture would depict, and are much more detailed. For instance, below is a magnified image of bumble bee wing hooks.

Image obtained from BugScope website

More Accurate Pictures of a Bumble Bee

Photo obtained from Wimbledon Beekeepers Association webpage

Photo obtained through bumblebee.org

Also, for general information, male bumblebees cannot sting, but the females can, and have the ability to do so more than once. Normally, when not in use, the stinger remains hidden inside the last abdominal segment.

NSES

• NSES standard, Levels 5-12: Abilities of Technological Design

• I, as a third year college student, was not aware that it was possible to control a microscope from another room, let alone another state. This concept has the ability to astonish, as well as teach students science may not always have the barriers our mind would think it does.

Authentic Learning

• The technologies involved assist in authentic learning because they are very educational and do not leave much room for distractions and steering off task. As long as guidelines are explicitly stated, and the activities are monitored, microscopes and BugScope are authentic uses of technology in the classroom.

Classroom Connections• Literature sources: trade books about insects

and bugs, encyclopedias, and various educational websites

• BugScope can be incorporated into an art curriculum, similar to the assignments for Educ 140

• Also, depending on grade level, BugScope could be incorporated into a math curriculum, making equations to compare various bugs’ lives to one another.

References

• Wimbledon Beekeepers Association at www.wimbledon-bees.co.uk

• www.bumblebee.org

• The Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service at http://hgic.clemson.edu

• www.everythingabout.net, information from Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia ’07

• BugScope http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu