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| |  | SCI-LIT LINKS QUICKPLAN
BAT ECHOES
(QuickPlan developed by Dr. Ken Mechling, Clarion , Pennsylvania)
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OVERVIEW: Students participate in a simulation game in which they discover how bats use echolocation to sense objects, including their prey.
BOOKLINK: What is a Bat? by Bobbie Kalman and Heather Levigne, Crabtree Publishing Company, New York, 1999. ISBN 0-86505-895-4
SCIENCE ACTIVITY LINK: Children pretend to be bats, moths, and/or trees in an environment in which bats catch moths for food.
OBJECTIVE: Students simulate and describe how insect-eating bats catch prey in the dark.
SCIENCE PROCESSES AND CONTENT: Processes-Observing, communicating, inferring, and model building. Content-Animal characteristics and behavior, predator-prey relationships, energy flow in an ecosystem, and sound travel.
NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS: Unifying Concepts and Processes, (1) Science as Inquiry, (2) Physical Science, (3) Life Science, (6) Science in Personal and Social Perspectives, (7) History and Nature of Science
MATERIALS: Book, What is a Bat? and blindfolds
PROCEDURE:
1. This activity simulates how bats as predators use echolocation of sounds to catch their prey, moths and other insects. It is adapted from NatureScope, Amazing Mammals, Part II (See reference under Related Books). In a gym, cafeteria, or outdoors location, have the children form a circle 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) across. Have them face toward the inside of the circle.
2. Choose one child to play the role of an insect-eating bat. Blindfold the bat and have him/her stand in the center of the circle. Choose another child to be a moth and invite him/her into the circle too (no blindfold).
3. The object of the game is for the bat to tag the moth. Tagging simulates "eating." Both the bat and the moth can move (ask them not to run but they may walk swiftly. They must stay within the circle. The other children ensure that they stay inside and can warn them, if need be, if they get too close to the circle boundary.
4. When the bat calls out "bat," the moth responds by calling out "moth." Tell the children that everytime they hear the bat call "bat," it simulates the bat sending out ultrasonic sounds (too high-pitched for humans to hear) to sense what is in their path. The ultrasound bounces off the moth and echoes back to the bat, simulated by the moth calling out "moth."
5. The bat must listen carefully, concentrate on where the moth is, and try to tag ("eat") it. When the moth is tagged, this round of the game is completed. The bat or predator ate the moth or prey. The energy from the moth went into the bat.
6. Other rounds of the simulation can be played with variations--and children will want to play them! For instance, several moths can be introduced into the circle at the same time. Or another blindfolded bat can be added. Or several trees can be added. When trees are in the moth's environment they must stand still and call out "tree" each time the bat calls "bat." If a bat bumps into a tree as it tries to catch a moth, the bat is out.
7. Following the simulation in Bat Echoes is a great time to read the book What is a Bat? Children can learn about and discuss bat anatomy and behavior, the characteristics of two groups of bats-magabats and microbats, bat's use of sight and smell, roosting habits, food, reproduction, and the many reputations that bats have, e.g. vampires sucking blood, bats flying into human's hair, and bats as bad luck.8. There are many outstanding teaching references on bats that teachers will find especially useful. See NatureScope and Bats Incredible under Related Books.
SAFETY: In the Bat-Moth simulation game, stress No Running!
RELATED BOOKS:
Bats by Celia Bland, Kids Books Incorporated, Chicago, IL, 1997. ISBN 1-56156-599-7
Bats: Creatures of the Night by Joyce Milton , Grosset and Dunlap, NY, 1993. ISBN 0-448-40193-2
Bats: Mammals that Fly by Marlene Sway, Franklin Watts, 1999. ISBN 0-531-15943-4
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon, Harcourt Brace and Company, 1993. ISBN 0-15-280217-7
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