Bees' Needs
Creating a relationship-based connection to pollinators
Katherine Walsh
University of North Dakota
Lacey Anderson
Taylor Lemieux
Cheryl Hunter
Keywords:
environmental education, place-based learning, provocative pedagogy, ecological handprint, pollinators
Abstract
The Bees’ Needs Curriculum was created to help children build a personal relationship to nature while laying the groundwork for future conversations about climate change. Centered around time spent in an outdoor garden, the lessons invite students to see bees not as something to fear but as neighbors who share our same basic needs—food, water, shelter, and community. Using place-based and embodied learning, children learned through movement, play, and observation, discovering how their actions can help bees thrive. Guided by the philosophy that children must love the Earth before we ask them to save it, this approach shifts environmental education away from anxiety and toward empathy, care, and curiosity. Through inquiry and hands-on exploration, students developed both understanding and affection for the natural world, showing that even small, empathetic encounters with bees can inspire lasting environmental awareness and stewardship.
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