York County [PA] bee hives sweetened by STEM experiment
April 3, 2017
From: YDR.com
York Daily Record
A team of Harrisburg-area students brought powdered sugar and an infrared camera to a York County beekeeper’s hives in hopes of dislodging and counting varroa mites. Chris Dunn, York Daily Record
***
The students, ranging from fourth through ninth grades, are competing in FIRST LEGO League, a STEM-driven challenge for which they identify and try to solve a real-world problem involving animals. After researching varroa mites, which plague bee colonies, the team hypothesized that forcing powdered sugar into a bee hive would irritate the mites off the honeybees and that they could use an infrared camera to detect displaced mites on the bee hive’s bottom board.
***
“I hope they’ll continue working with us even beyond the competition, and perhaps come up with something really useful,” Barnes said.
Leave a Comment