Title of Project: The Bee, the Flower, and Other Ways of Knowing
Fellows on Project: Paulina King and Celeste Huff
Location: We will be hosting a two-part workshop in both the UW Arboretum and the Madison Children’s Museum.
Date(s): UW Arboretum: May 19, 2024 and June 16, 2024; (Tentatively) Madison Children’s Museum: late April and early June
Project Description:
In this project, we explore concepts of pollination, collaboration, experimentation, abstraction, and mutualism through the implementation of a science-art hybrid lesson plan, culminating in a final community event and exhibition. We will teach students about bee pollination, specifically the importance of flower attractiveness, which will inform their creation of clay flowers designed to attract bees. These flowers will be replicated in colorful wax, filled with differing nectar based on color, given tinted pollen, and placed in the arboretum for our public “pollination” experiment. As each bee visits the wax flowers, they leave behind pollen, creating an abstract composition upon the wax surface. Students will participate in this experiment through hypothesis, observation, and synthesis of bee activity. Following the event, the flowers will be displayed in an exhibition of human bee collaborative art. In combining principles of science and art, we will ultimately create an immersive and engaging learning experience that illuminates the wonder and importance of the natural world.
