In this 5 lesson set, students learn about the foraging behavior of bees and hypothesize if the bee’s behavior is related to its ability to detect sugar. Students will then determine which type of foraging bee would be best for pollination or honey production. Students will learn about the process of gel electrophoresis as a genetic tool and analyze DNA to identify strains of bees who are better pollen-collecting bees or better nectar-collecting bees.

Activity 1: Foraging Behavior Experiment
Activity 2: Proboscis Extension Response

Activity 3: Gel electrophoresis and DNA fingerprinting as genetic tools
Activity 4: Analyzing forager DNA

Activity 5: Using gel electrophoresis to identify unknown bees

Link to resource Good Taste: Honey Bee Forager Preference