Creating a buzz: how UK schools are embracing beekeeping is an article in the Guardian which discusses how teachers are discovering that beehives can provide exciting opportunities to learn outside the classroom. This is how it begins:
“We know that things are bad with bees right now. In the past decade, they have been disappearing at an alarming rate – a combination of pests, pesticides and the destruction of habitats has seen the UK population decrease by about a third over that period. In September, the US added seven types of bees to its list of endangered species for the first time. The consequences of losing them would be huge: Albert Einstein once said that humans “would not survive the honeybees’ disappearance for more than five years”. Help is taking all kinds of forms: from fundraising gigs to experimental robotic pollinators and Tesco donating waste sugar to keep Cornish hives going through the winter. When it comes to schools, it would be understandable for the approach to be theoretical rather than practical (anyone who has ever shared a classroom with a bee and a set of panicking students will understand why). But there are schools across the country taking a practical approach and getting involved in beekeeping, rather than just reading about it. …