Pupils from Class 5-6 at Kurrajong Public School were treated to a citizen science experience led by ecologist Dr Mark Hall of Western Sydney University Institute for the Environment, as part of Australia Pollinator Week.
Kurrajong Community Forum, which runs Kurrajong-a-Buzz, invited children to make Pollinator Pledges, consisting of pieces of artwork and descriptions of how they would do their bit to help pollinating insects at home and at school.
The 'early bird winner' of the competition, as judged by Dr Hall, was Summer B from Class 5-6 who wrote in her pledge: "I pledge to use less pesticides and plant more plants and flowers to attract bees and pollinators. I will encourage others to also start planting plants too."
Summer B and her class were treated to an informative talk led by Dr Hall and Olivia Bernauer, a PhD candidate exploring pollination of apples by stingless bees.
Dr Hall began by describing the difference between European honeybees and native bees.
"There are 2,000 species of native bee in Australia and they all look really different to the honeybee. Some are microscopic and you can't see them," Dr Hall said.
He spoke about the importance of citizen science helping researchers identify new bee species.
Children were able to look at pollinators in plastic test tubes, and charts showing the different pollinators that are found in Australia.
Question time was popular among the children, who asked Dr Hall a number of insightful questions including: what is the loudest bee (the carpenter bee); do blowflies pollinate (a little bit); and why are bees always hanging around while I'm in the swimming pool (they like drinking water just as much as we do).
Dr Hall then led the children on a Wild Pollinator Count around the school grounds.
Of the competition, Dr Hall said he was impressed that Summer B pledged to encourage others to plant for pollinators.
"I was really impressed by all the pledges everyone made, and while I chose Summer as the winner, they were all really good," he said.
"Using less pesticides is really important, as is planting more plants, using bee hotels, and leaving bare ground for pollinators - but going home and telling your family and friends, that's the really important thing."