Technologies Unit: Building a Bee Hotel
The Building a Bee Hotel Unit is a complete design and technologies project where students explore sustainable habitats for native bees. The unit includes lesson plans, worksheets, design challenges, a building checklist, a risk assessment, and a grading rubric to guide students through researching, planning, and constructing their own bee hotels. The unit includes 5x 45-minute lessons that can be completed over the course of a week, or staged out over the term.
• STEM, STEAM & Design Lessons: Introduce students to the design process from research to construction.
• Environmental Science Integration: Connect with units on pollination, conservation, and biodiversity.
• Inquiry-Based Learning: Students investigate, design, and build their own bee hotels.
Learning goals
- We are learning to explore how familiar products, services and environments are designed by people.
- We are learning to generate, communicate and evaluate design ideas.
- We are learning to identify how people design and produce familiar products, services and environments to meet personal and community needs.
- We are learning to use materials, components, tools, equipment and techniques to safely make designed solutions.
- We are learning to use personal preferences to evaluate the success of design ideas, processes and solutions, including their care for the environment.
- We are learning to generate, develop and record design ideas through describing, drawing and modelling.
Curriculum alignment
Explore how familiar products, services and environments are designed by people
AC9TDEFP01 9Generate, communicate and evaluate design ideas, and use materials, equipment and steps to safely make a solution for a purpose
ACTDEK001 8.4Identify how people design and produce familiar products, services and environments and consider sustainability to meet personal and local community needs
ACTDEP007 8.4Use materials, components, tools, equipment and techniques to safely make designed solutions
ACTDEP008 8.4Use personal preferences to evaluate the success of design ideas, processes and solutions including their care for environment
ACTDEP006 8.4Generate, develop and record design ideas through describing, drawing and modelling
Australian Curriculum covers QLD / SA / WA / NT / TAS / ACT.
Differentiation
Modifications
• Provide pre-drawn templates for students who need extra support with design.
• Allow students to work in small groups to encourage collaborative learning.
• Offer alternative building materials to accommodate available classroom resources.
Extensions
• Compare different natural habitats to the effectiveness of a bee hotel.
• Have students test different materials for bee hotels and collect data on bee activity.
• Design digital 3D models of bee hotels before building them physically.