Rowan students go batty for conservation
CRANBERRY TWP — Brielle Polas is not afraid of bats.
“They aren't harmful to people,” said Brielle, 7, a Rowan Elementary School second-grader, about the funny-looking creatures.
However, one fact she learned about the number of bats in Cranberry Township made her feel sad, she said.
“They should try and put out bat boxes,” she said about what people can do to help bats.
Brielle is one student in the five second-grade classrooms who studied bats with teacher Betsy Cavicchia as part of “Project Bat,” which combined project- and concept-based learning opportunities surrounding the fuzzy flying mammal to teach students about action in their community and local conservation.
Students received a first-hand presentation on bats from the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania on Tuesday at the school, 8051 Rowan Road.
The presentation gives students a chance to show what they have learned in class and get to know the nine species of bats in the area, said Scott Detwiler, environmental educator for the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania in Beechwood.
“I liked learning about the bats that live in Pittsburgh,” Brielle said about the nine different bats, including the Eastern small footed bat, tricolored bat, Indiana bat and silver-haired bat.
The most common bat found in the area is the big brown bat, Detwiler said. Among his presentation tools was a bat skeleton.The little brown bat, also a local species, is endangered because it has been heavily affected by the devastating white-nose syndrome, a disease which is caused by a fungus that affects hibernating bats, Detwiler said.For one hour in the school day, a time called design thinking, teachers discuss authentic problems in the environment with their students, Cavicchia said.After her class saw a video about white-nose syndrome and its impact on bats, her students became passionate about conservation, she said.To make change, people have to be educated, Cavicchia said she told her class. When they become educated, they start to care, which then leads to preservation.Students began researching bat facts, their plight in the state, and facts that counteracted myths about bats. They also created bat poems, posters and wrote reports, she said.The future chiropterologists, people who study bats, spent the last few weeks learning interesting information and facts about the creatures.One of the coolest facts about bats is that there are more than 1,000 species, said Sebastian Osche, 8.
One out of ever four mammals is a bat, said Jackson Deangelis, 7, adding they are the only mammals that can fly.Jackson learned that the wingspan of a giant golden-crowned flying fox is similar to an eagle's wingspan, he said.Cavicchia plans to present what her classes have learned about bats and their importance locally to the Cranberry Township supervisors because the location set for the new elementary school is the site of a bat colony, Cavicchia said.During the school's open house in the spring, Cavicchia and her students, who will act as docents, will showcase their knowledge in their interactive Bat Cave where visitors can learn about bats and their importance to the environment.The donations collected at the open house will go toward purchasing bat boxes, Cavicchia said. The remaining funds will be donated to the Audubon Society for the protection of bats.“Our students have been so focused and engaged during these purposeful and authentic learning experiences and are so exuberant to share what they have learned during their study of this topic,” she said.
There are more than 1,200 species of bats.Bats are the only mammals capable of flight.Bat droppings can be used to make gunpowder.Not all bats hang upside down.Bats aren't really blind.SOURCE: Encyclopedia Britannica
