Post by Sharon Faulkner on Oct 3, 2006 7:32:21 GMT -5
Student Explorers
By Kevin Koelling
October 2, 2006
Cannelton media club begins cave-research project; Last year's members schedule trip to collect award
CANNELTON - As last year's Cannelton Media Club students prepare for a trip to collect the latest in a string of excellence-in-media awards, this year's club members are embarking on a research adventure that will take them deep underground.
Five of last year's eight club members are going to the International Student Media Festival in Dallas Oct. 10-12 to collect the award they garnered through their “Moon and Beyond” project. Led by teacher Joan Goble, the media club has garnered numerous awards for research projects posted on Web sites available through www.siec.k12.in.us/cannelton/elementary/technology/internet/index.htm. Those projects have taken the students into the histories of their school, their city, the Indiana Cotton Mill and explorations of “moon trees” and endangered animals.
This year's group, twice the size of last year's, will examine cave ecosystems, Goble said. They were headed Saturday for the Wyandotte Caves in the Harrison-Crawford State Forest. “They'll be setting up equipment to listen to bats,” Goble said. Part of that system is an Anabat, which actually records bats' echolocation signals, the sonar-like sounds they make to track and capture insects. “They'll teach us how to analyze what they're saying,” Goble explained, “like ‘that's a yummy bug.' ”
Clark McCreedy, a biologist with the Hoosier National Forest, volunteered to help the students in their learning quest. In a classroom meeting with the students Tuesday, he showed how the Anabat captures the bat-signals to a memory card. He starts by rubbing fingertips together and asking if they can hear the sound he's making. “No,” the students respond.
He tries again, this time rubbing them together next to the Anabat, which picks up and amplifies the sound. “It takes echolocation signals, and translates them into a language you and I can understand,” he explains.
He presented a book about bats to the club, to aid in their research. Pages describing bats indigenous to Indiana were marked. “Eleven to 13 of the United States' 45 species of bat occur in Indiana,” he said, noting there may be more that haven't yet been discovered.
The Wyandotte Caves are home to approximately 30,000 bats in the wintertime, he said.
As he provides the club members information, Goble encourages them to write it down for their reports. Among the facts: Young people can hear echolocation signals better than their elders, and girls hear them better than boys. And, there are at least 140 caves in the Hoosier National Forest, with two new ones discovered only the week before.
Full Article
By Kevin Koelling
October 2, 2006
Cannelton media club begins cave-research project; Last year's members schedule trip to collect award
CANNELTON - As last year's Cannelton Media Club students prepare for a trip to collect the latest in a string of excellence-in-media awards, this year's club members are embarking on a research adventure that will take them deep underground.
Five of last year's eight club members are going to the International Student Media Festival in Dallas Oct. 10-12 to collect the award they garnered through their “Moon and Beyond” project. Led by teacher Joan Goble, the media club has garnered numerous awards for research projects posted on Web sites available through www.siec.k12.in.us/cannelton/elementary/technology/internet/index.htm. Those projects have taken the students into the histories of their school, their city, the Indiana Cotton Mill and explorations of “moon trees” and endangered animals.
This year's group, twice the size of last year's, will examine cave ecosystems, Goble said. They were headed Saturday for the Wyandotte Caves in the Harrison-Crawford State Forest. “They'll be setting up equipment to listen to bats,” Goble said. Part of that system is an Anabat, which actually records bats' echolocation signals, the sonar-like sounds they make to track and capture insects. “They'll teach us how to analyze what they're saying,” Goble explained, “like ‘that's a yummy bug.' ”
Clark McCreedy, a biologist with the Hoosier National Forest, volunteered to help the students in their learning quest. In a classroom meeting with the students Tuesday, he showed how the Anabat captures the bat-signals to a memory card. He starts by rubbing fingertips together and asking if they can hear the sound he's making. “No,” the students respond.
He tries again, this time rubbing them together next to the Anabat, which picks up and amplifies the sound. “It takes echolocation signals, and translates them into a language you and I can understand,” he explains.
He presented a book about bats to the club, to aid in their research. Pages describing bats indigenous to Indiana were marked. “Eleven to 13 of the United States' 45 species of bat occur in Indiana,” he said, noting there may be more that haven't yet been discovered.
The Wyandotte Caves are home to approximately 30,000 bats in the wintertime, he said.
As he provides the club members information, Goble encourages them to write it down for their reports. Among the facts: Young people can hear echolocation signals better than their elders, and girls hear them better than boys. And, there are at least 140 caves in the Hoosier National Forest, with two new ones discovered only the week before.
Full Article