Illustrative Mathematics
Hexagonal Pattern of Beehives
Young geometers and biologists investigate the math of nature in an activity that is just the bee's knees. Participants will study the tessellations of hexagons in a beehive, along with the natural rationale behind the specific shape....
Curated OER
The Honeycomb Challenge: Shapes and Colors
Play this game with young English language learners to help them learn color and shape vocabulary. As they make their way around the game board, they talk about the colors and shapes they pass and land on. Add math skills practice by...
Curated OER
A Honey of a Hexagon
Students explore how bees make honey and why the hexagon is the best basic pattern for the honeycomb through the use of a video and hands-on activities with honeycombs and geometric shapes.
Curated OER
Classifying and Constructing Corners
Fifth graders, after seeing Honeycomb examples, complete a Classifying Angles worksheet, Clock worksheet, and Defining Angles worksheet.
Curated OER
Electronic Geometry Notebook
Students examine the relationship between two and three dimensional shapes. They use their drawings to solve problems. They create a notebook of the formulas and how they relate to the real world.
Curated OER
The Building Blocks of Geometry
Fifth graders explore geometric building blocks in the real world in order to describe the characteristics and relationships of points, lines, line segments, rays, and planes. This is the first lesson plan in a series of lessons in...
Curated OER
Keeping in Shape
Third graders describe patterns in terms of reflection and rotation symmetry, and translations. They design and make a pattern which involves translation, reflection, or rotation. They demonstrate why a given tessellation covers the...
Curated OER
Tantalizing Tessellations - Lesson I
Students complete a chart (KWL) as a pre-assessment, study the history of tessellations (tilings), investigate the properties of tessellations, and make and evaluate photographs of "found tessellations" for a PowerPoint/HyperStudio...
Curated OER
Too Bee Or Not To Bee
Students recognize that bees are important in the reproduction of plants and to the survival of animals. In this bee lesson, students become familiar with the parts of bees and how those adaptations help them pollinate plants. Students...
Curated OER
The Buzz on Bees-How Bees Make Our World a Little Sweeter
These lessons can help students learn about the important role bees play in the ecosystem.
Technovation
Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Build a Strong Honeycomb Structure
Using paper and tape, students are challenged to build a honeycomb structure that is able to support a heavy textbook or more. The website includes a place for students to document their design process, tips, and a lesson plan.
Scholastic
Scholastic Instructor: Explore the World of Honeybees
Discover more about bees through this educational resource. This resource features math and science activities, experiments, fun facts, and more.
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge: Nrich: Buzzy Bee Problem
See if you can find the pattern in Buzzy Bee's honeycomb. The solution is available right at this one page website.
Illustrative Mathematics
Illustrative Mathematics: G Mg Hexagonal Pattern of Beehives
Beehives are made of walls, each of the same size, enclosing small hexagonal cells where honey and pollen are stored and bees are raised. This problem examines some of the mathematical advantages of the hexagonal tiling in a beehive....