Echolocation - Summary

SCIENCE CONCEPT:

Bats are the only known flying mammal that as it flies can emit sounds to locate his prey or judge distance of a fixed object. His internal sense of "hearing" allows him to receive a sound picture back of where to locate the object or prey.

STUDENT OBJECTIVE:

The students will simulate the sonar method of echolocation that a bat uses by playing a game with other students solely using sound** as a locator.

**adaptation available for hearing impaired students

OVERVIEW:

OVERVIEW: Students will explore how bats use the sense of echolocation in a game version of "Marco Polo" by sending out sound signals to find the other players simulating bats and insects accordingly.

PREPARATION TIME:

5 minutes.

LESSON TIME:

25 minutes.

TEACHER PREP:

Locate large area for class to play the game in.

WORDS TO KNOW:

echo

location

bat

insect

vibration

sound

TEACHER TEXT:

Similar to insects and birds, strong muscles provide powerful wing strokes that aid flight. Unlike insects and birds, many bats rely on echolocation to fly and hunt for food. Echolocation works like the radar or sonar in planes or ships. A bat hears the echoes and its brain works out a sound picture of the object. It can tell if the object is prey or part of the landscape.

While most humans are unable to hear the ultrasonic beeps of bats, some children can. Some moths can hear the ultrasonic pulses of bats and will change their flight path or drop to the ground in order to evade capture. Others, like the Tiger moth, will click back to resemble ultrasonic bat calls to confuse bats into thinking they are another bat.

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Last modified: Sat Aug 23 14:04:12 PDT 1997