As the student groups are working on classifying the different bat cards, it is important that they are making decisions based on facts and vocabulary learned during this unit.
Collaborative groups allow for reasoning and logic to be at the forefront of group discussions.
Doing so, will help the learners become more familiar with unit vocabulary and understand associations
in the animal kingdom. "To learn any body of content, therefore, is to figure out (i.e., reason or think through) the connections between the parts of that content". (Paul & Elder, 1999).
Once bats have been sorted and categorized, students will complete a Venn diagram with facts they generated by the end of the activity. For example: All Micro bats have small eyes. Why is that so?
If their eyesight is not very good, what must they utilize in order to catch food? These are the conclusions
to the activity that will aid students in filling out the Venn diagram. Some advantages to using Venn diagrams include, but are not limited to: Good for visual learners, involves higher-order thinking skills, organization for overlapping concepts, and simplistic way to illustrate complicated information.
Interested community members are an asset to education. Guest speakers, individuals who are
involved with the topic of study are invaluable to any discussion.
(click title to view power point)
Additional videos on bats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmqQ4Wwu6s8 Bat Echolocation
