Lesson Plan : Blind as a Bat
Teacher Name: | Aimee Flynn |
Grade: | Grade 1 |
Subject: | Science |
Topic: | Echo-location |
Content: | Students will learn about the concept of echolocation during a week long unit on bats. |
Goals: | Students will learn that bats use their heightened sense of hearing to navigate as they fly. Within the unit on bats, students will become familiar with the way bats send forth a high pitched signal which send sound waves out, and then bouncing back to them, so that they can navigate through the night sky. |
Objectives: | NYS Standards: 19. Math, Science, and Technology>>Elementary>>Standard4>>The Living Environment - Key Idea 1 (Living/Non-Living - Characteristics) Students describe the characteristics of living things. 23. Math, Science, and Technology>>Elementary>>Standard4>>The Living Environment - Key Idea 3 (Organisms - Change over time) Students describe how the structures of plants and animals compliment the environment of the plant or animal. |
Materials: | Students, open space, and a blindfold. |
Introduction: | Students will be completing a week long unit in the study of bats. They will hear several books about bats, and look at pictures of bats prior to this project. I then introduce the term echo-location and ask who knows what an echo is. We have one student say a word, and the rest of the class "echos" it out loud. Then, I tell the class that bats use echos to help them tell where to fly at night. We discuss the high pitched noise bats send out as they fly, and the sound waves that bounce back , telling the bat where to fly. Each student will get to "be" a bat, and use echo-location to help them "fly" through the classroom. |
Development: | Set students up in an open space at about 1 arm length away from each other, 2-3 students in a row, and then 2-3 more behind them, etc.in a rectangular shape. Then one student gets blindfolded to become the bat. He/she must navigate through their classmates without running into anyone. The only tool they can use is to say,"Echo!", and the classmate nearest to the bat says,"Location!", in a "Marco"-"Polo" type of response. Each child takes a turn as the bat. |
Practice: | |
Accommodations: | |
Checking For Understanding: | Later in the week, students take a quiz on the characteristics of bats, including echo-location. |
Closure: | |
Evaluation: | |
Teacher Reflections: | This is a sure-fire way to get the students to remember the term and the concept of echo-location! They always seem to have fun with it too. |
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