POLLEN
COLLECTION
late
March to May
MATERIALS: black construction paper, clear sticky tape (not the frosted tape)
The goal of this exercise is to have each student really look at where the pollen comes from in flowers. Each student or the group as a whole will have a collection of pollen from different plants.
Each student will be like a bee, going to flowers to collect pollen (never mind the nectar). Bees have special bristles on their back legs that make a pollen "basket" into which the bees pack pollen to transport it. Students are armed instead with a piece (about 1 inch long) of clear Scotch tape, which they should gently press, sticky side out, onto the flower part they think has the pollen. Done successfully, the procedure gets yellow "dust" (the pollen) on the tape, which shows up nicely when the student sticks the tape onto his black paper or buzzes to the class' piece of black paper and sticks on his tape (depending how you organize the activity). After each successful pollen collection the student goes to an assigned tape dispensing person and gets another piece of tape. He should try to visit as many different KINDS of flowers as he can.
If you want, you can label what kind of flower each pollen sample came from.
Differences are obvious between flower species in how easily the pollen comes off, how much pollen is released, and the color of the pollen. These and other variables are all relevant to bees and other insects that visit flowers.
Good pollen producers: buttercup, currant, alder, elderberry, Calif. poppy.
If you push too hard with the tape, you will come away with flower parts, not just pollen. Try to get just the pollen.