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Thread: Senior scientific question equations???

  1. #31
    Senior Member Adam's Avatar
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    I do share Jon's concerns about learning by rote - partially because I can't retain facts as well as I could when I was at school and partially because I do wonder whether it's relevant to beekeeping. I haven't done BBKA module 5 (done the others apart from 8) as I don't know if I can be bothered to learn the name of all those body parts. Beekeepers that find the modules easy can tend to be those who work in science or have been in education - science teachers seem to whizz through for example. Credit to them for knowing their tibia from their metatarsus but it doesn't necessarily make them able to get to grips with a bunch of colonies. However how do you set an exam without a reasonable degree of factual knowledge?

  2. #32
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    how do you set an exam without a reasonable degree of factual knowledge?
    You could have a series of questions asking how to solve problems you encounter in practical beekeeping or asking for possible explanations for stuff you observe in a hive

  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Adam View Post
    I haven't done BBKA module 5 (done the others apart from 8) as I don't know if I can be bothered to learn the name of all those body parts.
    As an former University Biologist I can tell you that module 5 is a right hemorrhoid. Hardest one of the lot, an almost total rote learning exercise.
    It should be renamed as Bee anatomy as that essentially is what it is. Serves very little purpose for any practical side of beekeeping. But many of the modules contain stuff you will never need to know to successfully keep bees. What they do, however, is broaden your knowledge of beekeeping in general and force you into learning about subjects you would never willing venture. I got particularly fascinated by the history of beekeeping (Mod 8) a subject that previously I had no inclination that I would find so interesting.
    Also, with the exception of modern genetics (and possibly modern materials), you find how little beekeeping methods have changed in the last 100 years or so. Now that might make a really good exam question/debating point.
    Last edited by Thymallus; 26-04-2018 at 01:10 PM.

  4. #34
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Joining IBRA for £35 and getting access to 50 years back copies of the Journal of Apicultural research is a good way to broaden your bee knowledge

  5. #35
    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post
    Joining IBRA for £35 and getting access to 50 years back copies of the Journal of Apicultural research is a good way to broaden your bee knowledge
    Maybe this would be a better investment of my money than some of the organisations I am involved in.

  6. #36
    Senior Member Adam's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thymallus View Post
    As an former University Biologist I can tell you that module 5 is a right hemorrhoid. Hardest one of the lot, an almost total rote learning exercise.
    It should be renamed as Bee anatomy as that essentially is what it is. Serves very little purpose for any practical side of beekeeping. But many of the modules contain stuff you will never need to know to successfully keep bees. What they do, however, is broaden your knowledge of beekeeping in general and force you into learning about subjects you would never willing venture. I got particularly fascinated by the history of beekeeping (Mod 8) a subject that previously I had no inclination that I would find so interesting.
    Also, with the exception of modern genetics (and possibly modern materials), you find how little beekeeping methods have changed in the last 100 years or so. Now that might make a really good exam question/debating point.
    Some of Module 5 is already covered in other modules and I wonder whether it would make sense to reduce the number of modules to 6, say and make them more relevant. Although there would be an outcry that the modules were being dumbed down.

    For examples of new topics, unless there has been a change recently, there is no mention of package bees - a good way of getting bees to people without the problem of old comb and comb disease and something that's practiced in other parts of the world quite extensively. Why not here?.
    And a question could be to ask about, that old chestnut, the benefits of insulating the hive!
    Or if you were asked to look at a Top Bar hive, how would you inspect and manage it?
    Or Explain the difficulties of inspecting a Warre hive compared to a framed hive...
    I am sure there are lots of other topics that could be added although it's fair to say that a Qualified or Master Beekeeper should know these answers as they will come across something other than a National hive sooner or later.
    Last edited by Adam; 27-04-2018 at 08:09 AM.

  7. #37
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    A good beekeeper should be able to solve any practical problem through observation, deduction and the practical application of a solution. If exams measured that kind of stuff there might be more of a point to them. I have only ever seen a slight tinkering at the edges of the FIBKA exam system and it has essentially been the sames for decades. Since the arrival of the internet and google there is far less need to memorise stuff which can be googled in 10 seconds - if you really need to know the proper term for pollen basket or suchlike.
    Back in the old days people used to learn off the rivers of the British Isles in alphabetical order, list all the counties of Ireland, states of the United States etc.
    There is little need for this approach to learning any more.

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Adam View Post
    For examples of new topics, unless there has been a change recently, there is no mention of package bees - a good way of getting bees to people without the problem of old comb and comb disease and something that's practiced in other parts of the world quite extensively. Why not here?.
    I know several people who routinely buy in package bees. It's not well known but does go on.

  9. #39
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    I've now completed all the written exams and have my Advanced Beemasters Certificate (two practicals to go before I can become an Expert Beekeeper). I think doing the exams helped me to become a better or more aware beekeeper - but I don't for a moment believe that puts me on a par to people with years of experience. I'm still a novice with lots of insecurities about what is the best way to manage my bees, and I'm eager to hear from other beekeepers how they manage their bees.

    I had to look up what 'learning by rote' actually means. It means 'repetition' - and, yes, I had to do a lot of that at times to remember some course content and, unless I keep reminding myself about what I've learned, I may forget some of it again.

    I enjoyed learning about the various aspect of beekeeping about which I would have remained ignorant otherwise - but I'd have baulked at questions like the one at the start of this thread. Fortunately, that was not included in our syllabus.

    Kitta

  10. #40
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    Package bees are indeed available. Denrosa will supply them and there was a gentleman in Glostershire Mike by name who also supplied. Very interesting to watch them develop though of course they are more delicate than a nuc so that may be part of the reason they are not so popular as they are in warmer countries than ours.

    PH

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