Teaching Overview
Learning Points
- World Bee Day is held annually on May 20 to highlight the importance of bees and other pollinators to ecosystems and food production around the world.
- Bees and other pollinators are negatively affected by threats such as habitat loss, pesticides, and pollution.
- Engineers at MIT are developing tiny robots that fly like insects—an example of biomimicry.
Curriculum Keywords
- bees
- pollination
- robotics
Spark a Discussion
- What is the aim of World Bee Day?
- What is pollination, and why is it important?
- What is biomimicry?
More From Twig Science Reporter
Watch This Episode in Spanish
Use this version of the episode in Spanish to support the teaching of bilingual classes.
Credits
- Yi-Hsuan Hsiao et al., Aerobatic maneuvers in insect-scale flapping-wing aerial robots via deep-learned robust tube model predictive control.Sci. Adv. 11, eaea8716 (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aea8716
Discover More About Topics Covered in This Week's Episode
Classroom Resources
Use these resources to get the most out of the episode and engage your class in topical science!
Video Viewing Guide
This graphic organizer supports your students to capture their thoughts and questions as they watch the episode.
Access the GuideMake Your Own Science Episode
This simple guide helps your students to create their very own science episodes.
Access the GuideLanguage and Literacy Activities
This guide gives you ideas for how the episode can be used to support language and literacy activities.
Access the GuideTwig Science: A Complete Pre-K–8 Program for the NGSS
Immersive Investigations With High-Quality Multimedia
- Investigating, designing, building, and understanding phenomena
- Hands-on, digital, video, and print investigations
- Synchronous/asynchronous distance learning
