Posted April 2018
KU Mayfield Preschool has recently developed an area of specialisation within their already high quality educational program – STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning.
As part of this new specialisation area, the children at KU Mayfield have been involved in an ‘Animals as Engineers’ project, investigating bees and the structures they build.
“Over the last few months, the children have been learning about bees including how they plan, organise and build their hives,” said KU Mayfield Director, Karen Hugo.
“With the help of a skilled parent, the children and educators designed and built a bee hive for our outdoor environment. We also created a ‘bee refreshment station’ for the bees in our garden that are tired or thirsty.”
“To further support their learning, we had special guests visit the children to talk to them about beekeeping, including the roles of different bees, how honey is made and how honey is removed from hives,” said Karen.
Allowing children to investigate bees through an extended project links to the engineering aspect of KU Mayfield’s focus on STEM learning and encourages children’s sense of curiosity about the natural world.
“Young children are naturally curious. They wonder what things are called, how they work and why things happen. The foundations of scientific learning lie in inquiry and exploration – these are the tools of active learning,” said Karen.