Name Melissa Camacho
Submitted on 10/4/2005 7:58:40 PM
Topic: Bio
Krantz, Patrick, D.; Barrow, H., Lloyd (2003). Flying through the Standards with Bats. Science Activities, v39, 29-33.
Summary
This article takes you to the integrated aspect of teaching that allows time to teach science in the classroom. Before the lesson, the authors provide a background knowledge about bats. The article gives the order the bats belong to as well as other important facts about bats. It also provides a chart that contains the myths and the truth about bats to help teachers expect the perceptions about bats from their students. After the background, the authors give five activities all relating to each curriculum. Before the first activity the authors introduce a K-W-L inquiry method to find out what the students know about bats. Then the first activity is dealing with sound. The authors have a mini lesson on sound using canisters and beans. With this lesson, the students are to learn sound waves. The procedure explains that the students are to get in a circle and the "bat" (student) is in the center. As they shake the canisters, the "bat" is to find its prey. The second activity is more dealing with the content of history. The authors encourage teachers to invite a bat biologist to share historical information about bats. The third activity is an activity using math. The purpose of this activity is to calculate the wingspans and body weights of various bat species to other bat species using paperclips, straw, and string. Activity four is having the students use the internet to look up information about bats. For the fifth activity, the students are to observe, identify, explain, and construct a skeletal drawing of the bats wings. With this activity, the students use toothpicks to correctly observe the bat's hand wing from their own hands.
Reaction
I feel that this article motivates students to do inquiry-based lessons. It helps them know that bats can be educational in all contents and fun at the same time. This lesson really shows the importance of integrating science across the curriculum. Each activity gets the students involved in learning about bats in a hands on atmosphere. The lessons engage students in scientific processes and implements other contents to help students better understand the truth about bats. I feel that the authors made a good point in using the study of bats to provide opportunities to be integrated into all subject matter.