The SmartBee project is developing bilingual resources on native bee diversity for elementary aged children in Guatemala and the U.S. 

Lil’ Smart Bee the cartoon has now been released in both English and Spanish. A downloadable audiobook, printed booklets, and a Teacher’s Guide will also be ready to distribute to bilingual classrooms in Fall of 2024. 

 Lil’ Smart Bee at the Tucson Book Festival!

The Tucson Book Festival had over 120,000 visitors from around the country and the world with over 2,400 volunteers this past weekend.  It turned out to be a great venue for the Lil’ Smart Bee project as we met a lot of enthusiastic teachers who were looking for bilingual STEM resources for their classrooms and provided us great feedback on the learning mats.    

We had two tables where children made “bee hotels” and offered interactive bee diversity games that started with a prompting challenge question. “What Makes a Bee a Bee?  Many were surprised at both the diversity of bees and the number of bee mimics that exist.  Questions and stories the public shared about bees were entertaining and diverse! People commented they tend to learn about those things they fear the most. In hindsight more information about invasive species such as African bees will be something we will integrate as African bees are of key concern in southern Arizona and other surrounding regions.  Based on the questions and feedback we received we will be able to develop our next set of mats that will address those interests in serving bilingual students in Arizona classrooms. 

Isabel Trejo illustrator of Lil’ Smart Bee book at Mayantoons 

About Our Collaborating Partner

FLAAR (Foundation for Latin American Anthropological Research) was created in the U.S. in 1969 to map the archaeological sites of Yaxha in the 1970s which later expanded into flora, fauna and biodiverse ecosystems. FLAAR Mesoamerica  is a non-profit founded in Guatemala dedicated to field research and publications of biodiversity reports under co-founder/director Nicholas Hellmuth. The organization is already known for their science-based resources/media aimed at teaching children about the biodiversity of Guatemala which aligns well with the Smart Bee project.  Mayantoons is a project and division of FLAAR Mesoamerica. 

Check out other educational Mayantoons books FLAAR has created here.

A talented cast of voiceovers brought the Lil’ Smart Bee characters to life. 

Lizet Vasquez from Peru was the voiceover for the Spanish Version of Lil’ Smart Bee.
 

Mary Timpany plays Ms. Honeybee for the English version of the production.

Elizabeth Breckenkamp played the role of Lil’ Smart Bee

Project Key Objectives:  

1. Promote awareness of the plight of native bees which are too often overlooked in many “save the bees” campaigns.

2. To address STEM literacy in those audiences this project will serve. 

Smart Bee Action Items: 

• To co-develop interactive learning resources and outreach campaigns aimed for elementary aged students in Guatemala as well as Latinx communities in the U.S. The materials will integrate story, culture, and language with science and an understanding of bee diversity.  Depending on funding the project hopes to produce a series that will focus on the various and diverse relationships of bee species that exist in Guatemala. 
• Opportunities for cross-cultural exchange as participants are encouraged to share what they have learned about native bees and biodiversity in their local environments.
• Collaboration with Guatemala partners will be key along with development of a viable distribution platform of the resources.  

Check out the Guatemala Bee Project on iNaturalist

The new iNaturalist bee database will serve not only as an educational tool but will also support the Biodiversity Documentation Project in the Main Protected Areas of the Reserva de la Biósfera Maya (RBM) in Petén which is a cooperative effort between FLAAR (USA), FLAAR Mesoamerica and the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP). FLAAR’s efforts will complement the registry of species of fauna, flora, fungi, lichens, and ecosystems that form part of the natural heritage of Guatemala. This project was initiated with the agreement signed in March 2021 and will be continued for five years (2021-2025).

Learn more about the FLAAR Biodiversity Documentation Project here.

  Melipona beecheii, Photo credit: Edwin Solares, FLAAR Mesoamerica

TEACHERS/PARENTS!  Missed us at the festival? Reach out to us if you would like your free bilingual learning mats on bee diversity aimed for ages 7 and up!

Contact Anne Basham at info@science-as-story.org for more information about our resources.  Science as Story is a spin-off project that will be involved in the development of children audiobooks/animations that integrate culture with story in promoting STEM literacy and knowledge about the diversity of life on our planet. 

 A special thanks to our volunteers/contributors/sponsors

Volunteer August Cruz Taggart, an ecology major at Pima Community College 

Volunteer Mary Timpany, the voiceover of Ms. Honeybee.

Biodiversity Outreach Network and the iDigBees project and the talented crew at Mayantoons!