The scientific method and our process
Observe
We observed flowers and pollinators in our local area. We looked for colours, shapes, textures smells and 'nectar guides' in the natural landscape. .
Question
We asked "What is attractive to pollinators and can we use artificial flowers to test this?"
Hypothesis
We had a number of hypotheses. Our main hypothesis was "Pollinators will be attracted to artificial flowers". We also had further hypotheses about features of these artificial flowers, for example: "Pollinators will prefer coloured flowers to black flowers", "Pollinators will prefer complex artificial flowers to simple artificial flowers", "Pollinators will prefer yellow artificial flowers to blue artificial flowers", "Pollinators will prefer plastic artificial flowers to paper artificial flowers"
Background Research
Below is a selection of papers from our literature review. We also carried out a pilot study before settling on our final experiment design.
Russell_papaj_2016_artificial_pollen_dispensing_flowers_and_feeders_for_bee_behaviour_experiments.pdf | |
File Size: | 899 kb |
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Nordstrom_2017_in_situ_modeling_of_multimodal_floral_cues_attracting_wild_pollinators_across_environments.pdf | |
File Size: | 1484 kb |
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Makinson_2017_bee-friendly_community_gardens.pdf | |
File Size: | 822 kb |
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Experiment
We did a trial of our experiment in the Blue Mountains Community Garden. Incorporating learnings from this day, we redesigned our experiment and artificial flowers to test in home gardens.After refining our experimental design, families took home a citizen science experiment pack and observed artificial flowers for 10 minutes each for the insects that came. We also did a pollinator 'bingo' observing insects flying in our gardens. With this data we could compare the flowers, and also look at the different pollinators in the different gardens overall.
Details on how to conduct our experiment are in the following guide:
Details on how to conduct our experiment are in the following guide:
Lets Bee Scientists Experiment: How to Guide | |
File Size: | 5217 kb |
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Interpret Results
We collated our data and made graphs. As a group we interpreted the results in preparation for writing reports (see below)
Communicate Results
As a group we brainstormed how we would turn our findings into a scientific report. Our how to write a report guide and group discussions are below if you would like to have a go at writing a scientific report based on our findings. We have also included an example of a scientific report based on this research put together by Japhy Ong and Julie-Ann Henninger.
writing_a_science_report.docx | |
File Size: | 15 kb |
File Type: | docx |
report_writing_group_reflection.docx | |
File Size: | 28 kb |
File Type: | docx |
lets_bee_scientists_report_example.pdf | |
File Size: | 193 kb |
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Video interview on "Lets BEE Scientists" with Menindee
Our group also created a diversity of creative science communication projects to communicate our learnings. This website is one of those projects! See some more of our science communcation projects HERE!
Our group also created a diversity of creative science communication projects to communicate our learnings. This website is one of those projects! See some more of our science communcation projects HERE!