Use honey in qualitative food tests for carbohydrates and protein. Honey can be used as a treatment for burns, so investigate its antiseptic properties by placing samples in wells of agar impregnated with E coli and observe if the bacteria grow around the well. (Remember all safety precautions.) The Friends of the Earth website has relevant information about bees, honey and GM crops: www.foe.co.ukresourcebriefing_notesbees_honey_and_gm_crops.pdf

KS4

Examine smears of honey with a microscope and look for pollen grains.

Identifying the type of plant they come from is not easy, but you can perhaps find some help from images at www.airborne.co.nzmonofloralhoneydef.html and www.howe.k12.ok.usjimaskewbotzobotpolen.htm

Use ultraviolet light to look at the flowers mentioned in the article to see the patterns that a bee could perceive.

Also look at images at www.chemsoc.orgexemplarchementries2001loveridgeindex

KS5

Research the phenomenon of mimicry. Look especially for examples of Batesian mimicry (where a palatable mimic resembles a distasteful model, eg hoverflies and wasps, African robber flies and bees) and Muellerian mimicry (where a distasteful mimic resembles a distasteful model, eg monarch and viceroy butterflies).

See www.staff.ac.ukcandy.roweRoweGuildford.99.pdf