Resources for Educators

You can use the census as a STEAM activity!

We are excited about the 2022 Census and think it will be the biggest one yet!  The census is a STEAM activity that you can use in your classroom:

  • Explore the links below for ideas on getting your students excited about insects and the census.  Videos from the Entomological Society of America can be fun and educational!  I also like pollinator haiku – Ode to the Wasp!
  • Use the Powerpoint below to teach your students the entomology needed to participate.
  • Join us on the Georgia Pollinator Census Facebook group to get ideas and capture educational snippets that you can use with your class.  Scroll through past Fridays to find many #FunFactFridays.
  • Provide each student with one of the counting forms.
  • Generate excitement by having a countdown to the census.
  • Use the classroom data for extra math lessons like graphing the pollinators that your class counted.
  • Download the Certificate of Participation that will be available on the website.  
  • AGAIN THIS YEAR:  Instead of uploading counts one at a time you will be able to upload an overall tally of your student counts.  Add up the counts and only upload once!
Email Becky Griffin (beckygri@uga.edu) if you have any questions or need additional ideas or inspiration!

Math mania! With the data from the last three Censuses on the website, the math lessons create themselves:

Click for some specific ideas!
Click for some specific ideas!
Click for the worksheet!
Students at Maynard Jackson High School in Atlanta count insects as part of the census pilot project.
Campers at the Kid's Camp at the Research and Education Garden in Griffin created their own bee homes.
Young people learning about insects at the Atlanta Science Festival.

Featured Activity: Honey Tasting

Below you will find a PowerPoint detailing how honey bees make honey, a lesson plan that will fit any almost any grade level curriculum standards, and two work sheets.  This is a tasty way to educate your students about honey bees!

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
PowerPoint Presentation

This PowerPoint presentation is perfect to teach youth (and adults) the basic insect identification needed to successfully participate in the Census.  Click HERE to download the presentation.

Below are a few activity sheets for your classroom or summer camp. Click on the image and save to your computer for printing:

2022 Pollinator Census Counting and Insect Identification Guide

This guide contains all of the details on the census – how to count, how to identify insects that you will see, and how to submit the counts.  There is also a counting sheet that can be printed to take to the garden.   Feel free to print and copy this guide as many times as you need. Download the guide HERE.

Counting Sheet with Visuals:

 

 

 

 

One of the requests after last year’s count was a cleaner counting sheet that still have plenty of visuals and some hints.  Thank you Clare Johnson for designing this updated sheet.  You can download it HERE.

Creating Pollinator Nesting Boxes to Help Native Bees

This publication gives simple instruction on how to build nesting boxes for native bees, especially mason bees and leaf cutter bees.  It also has photos and details on the bees that use these type of nests. Download the publication HERE.

Lesson Plan and Activity Links

The State Botanical Garden has created an amazing coloring book on pollinators and the plants they pollinate.

Pollinator Partnership has many lesson plans appropriate for use around the census.

The National Park Service has a wonderful Tallgrass Prairie Pollinators lesson plan for grades 4-12.

Environmental Education in Georgia has many lessons on all types of nature that meet Georgia state standards.

The Entomological Society of America has several links to insect-based activities.

Monarchs Across Georgia has some wonderful activities centered on the Monarch butterfly.

Georgia Association of Conservation Districts posted fun pollinator activities

Griffin, B.  & Braman, K. (2021) School and Community Garden Pollinator Census: a Pilot Project in Georgia. Journal of Entomological Science, 56(3): pp. 287-304.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.18474/JES20-38

 

Griffin, B., LaTora, A.G., Bhattarai, U., & Braman, S.K. (2021) Knowledge Gleaned From the First Great Georgia Pollinator Census. Journal of Entomological Science, 57(1): pp. 39-63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18474/JES21-05

 

Griffin, B, Braman, R, Griffin, M & Sarieh, Y. (2021) The Strategic Use of Multimedia in the Great Georgia Pollinator Census Citizen Science Project. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 6(1): 1, pp. 1–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.334  

Use these social media memes to generate excitement! Click on the meme and save to your computer.

Science – entomology, biology, ecology, botany

Technology – use of social media, uploading census counts to the webpage

Engineering – creating bee homes, designing pollinator gardens

Art – insect and flower origami, pollinator haiku

Math – counting insects, comparing counts with other students, creating graphs of insects seen

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