Bats are amazing mammals that provide tremendous ecosystem benefits as pollinators and excel at insect control. However, bat populations are experiencing precipitous declines, and in many parts of Canada, certain populations are now endangered.
This activity engages students in an environmental stewardship project where they build and erect bat houses to provide critical roosting habitat. As they study the unique world of these night-time creatures students will be engaged and motivated to learn more about habitat preservation as a conservation tool that we can all achieve.
This lesson actively involves students in a citizen science project that supports learning units studying ecosystems, endangered species and connections between humans and the natural world. The resource also highlights the array of interesting adaptations that make bats so unique.
Bats are often misrepresented as “scary”, so a natural extension of this learning activity would be for a class to become bat ambassadors within their local community. Students could develop promotional materials that teach peers about the benefits of bats to humans. They could even partner with a local hardware store and conservation association to organize a bat house building workshop that encourages homeowners to locate these structures on homes and outbuildings.
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