Goals: To present information about bats, clear up misconceptions students may have about them, and provide an opportunity for group work.

Learning Objective(s): Students will:
List facts about bats from a story.
Work cooperatively in groups to complete a task and make a presentation.
Identify different types of bats.
Discover how mother bats take care of their babies.
Define echolocation.
Discover bat characteristics. 
Determine why bats are important to the world.
Compare and contrast different characteristics of bats.
Research information about bats.
Clarify misconceptions and identify myths that are associated with bats. 

NJ Core Content Science Standards:
Standard 5.6 – All students will gain an understanding of the structure, characteristics, and basic needs of organisms. 
#3 Show that living things have different levels of organization.
Standard 5.7 – All students will investigate the diversity of life.
#3 Recognize that individuals vary within every species.

Materials/Resources:
The book, Stellaluna by Janell Cannon, computer, internet access, overhead projector, screen, ample computers for children to work in 5 groups.

Procedure for Teaching:
The teacher will read the book, Stellaluna, to the class. Class will discuss what they believe to be true about bats and what they learned about bats from the story. List ideas on the board or chart.

The teacher will then go to http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/chavez/batquest/batquest.html

Students will be shown the web quest from which they will be working in cooperative groups. The teacher will show them how the website can be navigated.

Teacher divides the class into 5 groups each having their own computer so that each group gets one “task” from the 5 that are offered. Groups can choose their tasks by choosing paper strips from a “hat”. Topics are:
1) the different types of bats 
2) how bat mothers care for their babies 
3) echolocation 
4) unique bat characteristics 
5) why bats are important to the world  

It is the job of the group to teach the class what they learned in their portion of the site. They may do this with illustrations, a skit, a game, demonstration, or other method of presentation to their peers to teach them so they all become experts on bats. Each group is responsible for teaching the class at least 3 facts or concepts about their topics. Facts will be recorded in journals.

Student Product: 
In addition to group presentations, individual students will record facts learned during the group presentations in their journals. Younger students can create paper bats to hand in the classroom with pieces of furry fabric for the bodies (to remind them that they are furry mammals). Older students may want to create authentic models or illustrations of specific bat species with corresponding research reports. 
Students will enjoy the bat games and crossword puzzles at the CONCLUSION of this web quest. 

Assessment: Rubrics for group presentations can be created. In addition, the teacher can create a quiz or worksheet from the bat facts in student journals.

Reflection:
I think this type of lesson is a very good idea, mixing different media to assist in a student’s learning and a teacher’s teaching.  Stellaluna is a book for children in the lower grades, however, a lot of information online is geared toward an older crowd.  A teacher doing this lesson cannot just give out the websites and have children in a first grade classroom look up information on their own.  I did this lesson with my cousin in third grade.  She enjoyed it, but was getting a little antsy during the lesson.  I think there was too much reading and information thrown at her all at once, plus she was only one person receiving the information compared to a class of twenty students.  Instead of having her draw a picture, I just asked her what her favorite fact was and what other facts she learned.  I think she enjoyed it, but I am not sure it would work so well with children in a lower grade.  (Lauren)

This lesson has been edited to reflect the recommendations of its author. Rather than have the teacher be the reader of the website in front of the room as was originally planned, the lesson was converted into a cooperative group web quest activity. 5 groups have different projects and content and present their portions to the class. This shared inquiry project is likely to maintain student interest and engagement with the bonus of allowing students to present, be creative, and contribute to the content of the curriculum in their own way. (D. Zinicola)