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Author Topic: What should I bring to a lecture  (Read 6190 times)

Offline beemaster

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What should I bring to a lecture
« on: April 09, 2004, 11:34:41 pm »
Beemaster:

I've read your great section on lecturing to others at http://www.beemaster.com/honeybee/lect2000.html it was very thurough and it got me interested in brinking honeybee to my sons daycare and older daughters 4th grade class.

I have read you saying having live bees INSIDE isn't a good idea and that giving out HONEY SAMPLES isn't good incase of diabetes or allergies - just a question, what gadget and tools should I bring then, should I keep it so that it all fits in a box, and how about what to talk about.

I don't have many visual aids to share and I like your having the schoold copy the fliers that I know I can make, but I'm afraid I can't do a whole half an hour. I don't want to get them bored or spend more time packing and unpacking then I do displaying and talking.

please help me out - I can only wish I had your gift for writing and (like Seinfeld - no offense) being able to put on a show about nothing  :oops:

thank you Jackie W, Roanoke Rapids, NC

[/b]Well Jackie thanks for writing, I have moved this question to my Beekeeping Forum so you can get more replies than just mine - just click on the tracking number below (bookmark it if you wish) and check it often, it allows you to come RIGHT to where everyone can see your question - I hope we can help.

First, I'm glad you read all my Lecturing Stuff - I'm sure you got most of the tools in mind. I do suggest a helper to carry all the stuff, it gets heavy and cumbersome to have all kind of stuff for props.

I think doing a full hour is VERY POSSIBLE not just a half hour (that is IF you get the kids involved) if you just want to stand there and lecture and point to props 30 minutes could be a long time.

Have stuff (safe tools the kids can get their hands on and pass around the class as you speak) smokers, frame grabblers, new frame and foundation, queen cages, a small sheet of burlap - stuff like that, safe stuff.

Then have bigger props that cover A to Z about your hobby. That included shipping cages - kids love finding out that the mailman brings bees to your house, a super with a drawn out frame with uncapped cells, a frame with plain foundation (just like you pased around) hoods and vails, hive tools and a single story high complet hive kit showing bottom board, excluder, inner and outer covers, anythig that the kids will both see as you show them to the, but also they will be waiting in line to touch them - kids are all about hands on.

Keep a chalkboard or ercable marker board (more common today in classroms) and draw a basic looking bee, show where the legs connect, show where the eyes are and point where the wax comes from.

Finally get the kids to wear the beesuits and hood and vail - have tyour assistant take lots of photos - but most of all, make sure that honeybee are bee, the rest are stinging bugs - make sure when you are done they are better eduated to what honeybees do, and enjoy yourself.

Having hi-res images are not needed, but they help. But having an organized even makes the time fly by and you won't believe an hour or MORE has gone by - and best of all, you have the complete attention of the class.

I would almost guarentee that the schools will invite you back to let other classes see your presentation. I agree, I have a gift for writing, I love to do it and it flows easily from me, but I enjoy lecturing and demonstrating beekeeping to all ages. The last tip is KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE, a show for the preschoolers and forth graders should not be the same show - you should giving the answers (almost sumliminally) to the preschoolers - I mentioned holding 5 fingers up a nd asking the class HOW MANY EYES does a honey be have - trust me, you will get all the hands raised and then they are hooked.

Last point, get all the sting questions out of the way first - even so much as ASK "who has ever been stung before?" and then quickly cover that many insects sting and that honeybee are raised to be gentle and RARELY sting anyone for the sake of stinging, tell that is because she will die if she stings you where other stinging insects don't.

OK GANG, HELP OUT HERE - I know I covered a lot, but what else would YOU bring to a show and tell AND have you ever done it AND do you plan to??? Let us now.[/b]

Follow along Jackie and right us back. Since you are a beekeeper, I hope you come into the forum as a guest and leave as a member, we sure would love having you here.

Beemaster[/b]
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Offline Beth Kirkley

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lectures
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2004, 12:04:35 am »
Yeah John....you did cover it pretty well. If I were going to do a lecture (which I have thought about doing) I'd take as much of the tools as I could, and a hive set-up if possible. I'd definately take the suit (maybe have an assistant dressed up in it), and take an extra veil or two. I'd also take some burr comb...... as much as I could..... and if possible enough so the kids could take a piece home in a little paper bag. Kids love getting a souvenir. Even if doing it for a group of older kids or adults I'd still take little gifts of comb. I enjoy bees so much, I think it would be easy to tell them all the fantastic things about a bee. I know I'd want to prepare a general speech, but be open to having it changed according to questions that may pop up. If the kids were young, I'd do as much as I could to get the kids involved rather than just sitting and listening. I'm not sure how at the moment though...... maybe by having "parts" of a bee cut out in paper for them to assemble? The main thing I'd like them to come away with is a new interest and possibly love for little honeybees. I'd try to replace all the fear they have with curiosity and fasination.
Visual, touch and the gifts I think would be very important. Heck, I might even take a small friendly child in a bee suit with me if possible.

Beth

Offline beemaster

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Bee Suits
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2004, 12:30:58 am »
Glad Beth reminded me - I mention it in lecturing - have work stations set up you can divide the class into many groups - so you reduce the waitin gtime as they touch and look at different stuff.

I always bring a bunch of cheapy Tyvec suits and have a dress up station available for the kids to get into. Then have them hold a full frame of honey ( a lighter one of possible) and get their photos taken.

Have the images (if you got digital camera equipment) available to the teachers by posting them somewhere SAFE (and away from sickos) so that they can print out pics of their students dressed up like a beekeeper.

Have them in a suit hat but not vail (you cant see their faces) and holding a frame with a HIVE BOX near by in the photo. This is i the ultimate lecture category and I promise you'll have a line awaiting.

also a bee brush is nice to show off EXPLAINING how soft the bristles are and why. An hour can fly by, and helpers make it the whole thing run smoth - one helper per work station set with get everyone in and out quickly and with great memories.

Bee
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beeware184

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What should I bring to a lecture
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2004, 10:24:59 am »
Beeing a school teacher, maybe I can help.  Anything that gets kids active will help, so all of the suggestions about getting kids in bee suits, letting them touch equipment, and anything they can get to eat is great.  :idea:  Also, if you can get drones out of the hive and clip their wings, that works too.  Drones, because they don't sting, are great to handle.  A bee friend of mine teaches first grade, and brings a drone for everyone in her class.  With the wings clipped the kids can hold them, look at them through magnifying glasses, and use them as models to draw. :wink:

Offline leominsterbeeman

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Class time
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2004, 10:28:23 pm »
I did a presentation at a school a few weeks ago.  This is what I bring:


I bring a full  hive.  Bottom board, slotted rack deep with 1/2 drawn comb and 1/2 not drawn.   Inner cover and outer cover.

Smoker, Hive tool and bee suit.  Definitly a bee suit.  The kids love the suit.   When I was pulling it out, I jokingl asked ' do you want me to put it on?'  To which they loudly responded, 'Yeah!'

Gloves. Extra gloves,  extra veils.

Be careful with sharp items.  It's a crime to bring a knife into a school in Massacusetts.  I usually have a knive in my bee bag, and I always have to remove it before going in the school.

For my next show,  I have a package box with the can and queen cage.
I bought some honey stix and will bring those.  
I just bought an observation hive for presentatoins in the fall.


An hour  is about the limit that most teachers think their kids can stand.     But  I stretch it to about an hour and a half.   I work with a lot of kids that have behavior problems and can't concentrate on anything longer than 5 minutes, the get fidgitty.... and this is one subject that fascinates every single one of them.  They all sit quietly, and pay attention. Depends on the kids and the questions.     Older kids ask good questions.  Younger kids just like to talk, their questions are like this:  "Once I  was walking in the woods with my dad and little brother and we crossed over a small bridge and my brother was stung by a bee in his arm and it hurt a lot and we had to put ice on it and he cried."
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Offline beefree

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other stuff to bring
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2004, 05:16:44 pm »
i've been thinking about doing this myself, next year, and so i am saving up all different  kinds of comb.  i had a hive that didn't make it through the winter, and was mostly but not entirely destroyed by wax moth.  from the not-destroyed frames i have taken worker bee size comb (dark), drone comb with the bigger cells (black) and i also have some  stuff that i will melt down and make into a candle to take.  In addition, until i ordered my own first package this year, i had NO IDEA that beeswax starts out WHITE, so i saved a big chunk which the bees had built in their shipping container (which i should have saved, but didn't, and will definitely save next year).  the white chunk from the shipping container has sugar syrup in some cells, and i don't know what to do about that.  I also want to bring comb with pollen of various colors in the cells. i don't know how i'll get that.  i also saw in a catalog laying around here somewhere (might have been Betterbee), a HALF LIFE  SIZE HIVE... which i just thought was really cool, and easier to transport by myself.  i will keep checking this forum for more ideas from you all. thanks.
beefree
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