What If There Were No Bees?

In this design challenge, students will receive a problem derived from the story What If There Were No Bees? by Suzanne Slade. In the story, Suzanne talks about how bees help the ecosystem and the ramifications if bees were to disappear from the ecosystem. The students will be presented with the following problem: “The Lee, Martinez, and Smith families have noticed that there are fewer bees around their farm. They are worried that over time, there may be no bees left to pollinate their crops. What can they do to make sure their crops and surrounding lands get pollinated?” Students will engage in a STEM challenge to build an artificial pollinator in 25 minutes.  Teams will receive bonus points if their pollinator can transfer enough pollen in different size flowers.