A Swarm of Bees

Tuesday last my principal, Mike, walked into the room and said that students should stay away during lunch from the fields which are close to my room, because bees had swarmed onto a soccer goal. I’d already heard about it somehow and had gone out and captured this picture and video.

Of course I walked our class out to see the swarm (Spanish enjambre, a new word for me). As I had noted from my visit a few minues earlier, the bees had other things on their mind than attacking, so I let the students get within about 15 feet (5 meters). Just as I had, they were full of questions, mostly “Why do they do that?” Here’s a link to the Wikipedia article about swarming, which as WP always does, has many links to keep you perusing for hours for the kind of fascinating factoids guaranteed to make you the death of any party.

To briefly answer the question why, here’s a brief edited excerpt from the article:

Swarming is the natural means of reproduction of honey bee colonies (considering the colony as the organism rather than individual bees which cannot survive alone), including the domesticated Western honey bee. In the process two or more colonies are created in place of the original single colony. It is considered good practice in beekeeping to reduce swarming as much as possible, as allowing this form of reproduction often results in the loss of the more vigorous hive, and the remaining colony is unproductive for the season.

It goes on to mention that laissez-faire beekeeping, not actively preventing swarming, means you end up having to try to capture the swarm when it happens. Personally, I’ve always railed against laissez-faire beekeeping, but to limited avail.

Capture the swarm is exactly what they did. Here’s how: start with a tip from science teacher Diann Henderson to bait a cardboard box with honey. Add some smoke to entorpecer the beasts (a wonderful Spanish word meaning “to make slow, dull, clumsy, or awkward”). With the entire custodial staff arrayed like bridesmaids in coveralls, before long nearly all the bees were in the box. As luck would have it (there’s one in every crowd), one of the contractors sanding the new gym floor was a beekeeper, and was thrilled to have a new hive. I need to ask how he got them home - taxi? bus?

Given the synchronicity of things, perhaps it’s no surprise that this week by chance I also listened to a fascinating podcast of RadioLab, a show from New York Public Radio (WNYC) about “Emergence,” the science of the intelligence of large groups that have no leader: bees, ants, Google’s popularity, the neurons comprising our brains. Listen or download it at RadioLab.

Finally, I keep thinking of British transvestite comedian Eddie Izzard’s hilarious piece about beekeepers. Click here to see it on Youtube (please note: one swear word).

No coins or water heaters

A little birdie told me that a blog reader was nonplussed by pictures of water heaters and coins, and wanted pictures of US. Hmmm. So here’s one from lunch during the New Teacher trip to the handicraft mecca of Otavalo, Ecuador in August. One look at the expressions you can tell who’s about to start a new job — and who is chillin’ hard.

6th Grade Science Issues

My regular readers are probably wondering if I am ever going to talk about school and teaching, which is, in fact, my job here. Here’s a morsel to whet your appetite for all things pedagogical: this weekend I ran across a website called ListPhile, which allows you to create your own public, web-based databases. The coolest part is the fact

that the entries can be tied to a map. Since my students are already doing weekly “science issues reports,” and their topics span the globe from earthquakes in Peru to Tsunamis in Indonesia, my brainstorm was to have them put their summaries up on a map-based database. I just created the database tonight, and put up our first two entries, so they can see what I’m talking about. This week’s report will be optional (paper or ListPhile), and then after that they’ll have to put it up here. Check it out, and keep coming back, to “Sixth Grade Science Issues.”

Right: Here’s the front page, on day 1 (each little pushpin represents a database item):

On the way home from school

Just a few things in Quito look different than what I’m used to in the States. Here are a few of them that I see when I walk home from school (a little less than 3 km downhill to the trolley-sort-of-bus station, which I take the rest of the way)

This bus/room is just around the corner from our school. Our director called it a “former Ptomaine Palace;” I think he doesn’t hold it in the same esteem that I do. I’ve already fantasized about getting my students involved in a “Save the bus” campaign if it is ever in danger of being torn down.

This very neat graffito shows W wishing he were sucking face with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, with the caption, “The Love of Oil.”

Further down the street, near the cemetery and my trolley stop, this appears to be the floral deal of the century. Forget a dozen roses for your sweetheart - how about 25?

On the way to school

Everyone at Academia Cotopaxi (myself included, despite what Joy might suggest) has been working hard getting ready for the first day of classes on Monday. There are scads of workers painting, installing new tile and counters in the bathrooms, and who knows what else. Will they get it all done? The school is lovely, getting lovelier by the minute, and the teachers all seem dauntingly bright, charismatic, and talented (I’m not sure I’ll pass muster). Luckily, they’re a friendly lot as well, and seem to be giving me the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

(click to enlarge images)  L. The view outside my classroom door.  R. My lab in an early stage)

There is a tremendous amount of work being done around the school by the administration at what seems to be the 11th hour. Tomorrow is our last work-and-training day before school starts, and they are still finalizing the schedule, some of the policies, the student handbook, and the class lists. This also meant that our training on how to use the electronic gradebook today (including taking attendance) had to be aborted because the class lists weren’t loaded. Will they get it all done? Will I ever learn the thousand mysteries of my fancy telephone?

As you might well guess, with all the last-minute goings-on, my style of thrill-seeking-through-procrastination, having stood the test of time in several domestic and international settings, is fitting right in. My personal plan? To take off for the weekend with Joy and our friends to Ibarra, Ecuador, site this year of the World Junior Rock Climbing Championships!