Lack of open space, chemical use, and climate change present life-threatening challenges to nature's creatures. At the Massachusetts Environmental Educators Society (MEES) Annual Conference in March 2016, MS4B's Barbara Passero and Jean Devine, along with science teacher Steve Gordon and intern Rachel Kaufmann, presented a workshop, Pollinators in a Pickle! We chose to use a humorous approach to the workshop by opening with a seriously silly rap song, which the audience of over 50 educators greeted with laughs and applause. Here's a stanza from the rap.
What is pollination? It's how plants make the next gen'ration. Pollinators move pollen to the pistil from the stamen. Sex agents, they help procreation!
Through the rap song, posters, and inter-active games, we explored the interde-pendence of plants, pollinators, and humans in the food chain. Pollinators need pollen and nectar for food and energy. While moving from plant to plant to pick up pollen, pollinators inadvertently drop off pollen. Since many plants can't move (they have roots), they depend on pollinators delivering pollen for reproduction. We hope that from our rapping, humans understand this synergy.
