2-LS2-2: Modeling How Animals Move Seeds and Pollen
Also called NGSS 2-LS2-2 · Topic: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems · Life Science
The Official Wording
Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.
NGSS Lead States, 2013 · Read it on nextgenscience.org · checked October 15, 2026
What 2-LS2-2 Means in Plain English
Second graders build a simple model that does the job an animal does for a plant, like a bee carrying pollen between flowers or a dog's fur picking up seeds. They test how well the model works and improve its design.
The model copies what the animal does, not how the animal's body works inside. Students build on what plants need (2-LS2-1) and later study how plant and animal parts help them survive and reproduce (4-LS1-1).
2-LS2-2 I Can Statements
- I can explain how a bee helps flowers make seeds.
- I can build a model that moves pollen like an animal.
- I can test my model and make it work better.
2-LS2-2 Worked Example
A pollinator challenge with paper cup flowers, colored chalk and three model bees.
What model bee design moves the most pollen from one flower to the next?
Set It Up: Four paper cup flowers, one with orange chalk dust in the center and three clean, plus three model bees: a pipe cleaner, a cotton ball and a smooth craft stick.
- Dip each model bee into the chalky flower and twist it once.Pipe cleaner and cotton ball turn orange
- Tap each bee into its own clean flower.Orange dust lands in some cups
- Rate how much dust each bee left: lots, some or none.Pipe cleaner: lots. Cotton: some. Stick: none
- Improve the best design, like bending the pipe cleaner into a fuzzy ball.Fuzzy ball leaves even more dust
The fuzzy pipe cleaner moved the most chalk pollen, and the smooth stick moved almost none.
Why it works: Real bees have hairy bodies that pollen sticks to, so a fuzzy model copies how they carry pollen from flower to flower.
Common Mistakes with 2-LS2-2
Thinking bees visit flowers to help them
“The bee wants to help the flower grow”
Try this: Bees visit flowers to collect food. Pollen sticks to their hairy bodies by accident and rides along to the next flower.
A model that looks right but does not work
A beautiful paper bee with smooth wings and no fuzz
Try this: Build the part that does the job. A model bee needs a fuzzy surface to grab pollen, even if it looks plain.
Reusing a dusty flower
Tapping every bee into the same cup
Try this: Give each model bee its own clean flower, so the dust you see came only from that bee.
Where 2-LS2-2 Fits
Practice 2-LS2-2
Quick Check
- How does a bee move pollen from one flower to another?
- Why did the pipe cleaner work better than the craft stick?
- Name an animal that helps spread seeds.