Project Overview
Commodities
- Animals: bees
- Animal Products: honey
Practices
- Animal Production: feed/forage
- Crop Production: pollination, pollinator habitat, pollinator health
- Education and Training: demonstration, display, youth education
- Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity
- Production Systems: holistic management
- Sustainable Communities: public participation, sustainability measures
Abstract:
This project is the study of impacts on students’ knowledge and actions relating to pollinators in the ecosystem before and after receiving education on the topic. Lessons and information were provided to students about honeybees and other pollinators which exposed them to the importance of agriculture in their lives. Often times, even for adults, people forget how important the environment and agriculture is to their day-to-day activities. The impact was measured through a quiz before and after the lessons. The quiz had the same questions each time, in order to accurately measure how much the students have learned. Along with pre- and postquizzes, attendance was taken to get an accurate number of the students involved. The hypothesis was that the knowledge gained by students would significantly increase due to the lessons. The treatment group, consisting of 78 students, received the lessons on pollinators with the independent variable of the lessons added. The control group, consisting of 45 students, was the group that did not receive lessons between the initial and post tests. The dependent variable was measuring how much the students actually knew before and after with no added knowledge to prove there was no significant change. The results of this study showed a 49% increase in students’ knowledge relating to pollinators in their environment.
Project objectives:
- Educate students in the Zane Trace School District about the importance of honey bees and pollinators in agriculture.
- Encourage kids to build a more diverse environment for pollinators by planting seeds at home.
- Increase parents' understanding of bee ecology and sustainable agriculture by publishing articles and sending home information sheets about the Pioneer Pollinators Project.