GOING BATTY

GOING BATTY 'Gansett students restore disappearing bat habitat

+ click to enlarge News staff photo by Tara Vocino Narragansett High School sophomore Javin Blanchard focuses on drilling a nail into a bat house on Thursday. + click to enlarge News staff photo by Tara Vocino Narragansett Regional High School History teacher Charles Crook demonstrates what the final product of the bat house will look like Thursday once his students paint the wood black to better attract bats. Tara Vocino Reporter TEMPLETON  Students went batty for a purpose this week at Narragansett Regional High School, solving real-world problems regarding urbanization in Charles Crook’s U.S. History III class. With Halloween just around the corner, they built bat houses to learn about how cutting down forests has destroyed bats’ natural habitat. Home Depot in Leominster donated the supplies, which cost $138, for 15 students. “My motivation is kids are driving me batty because of Halloween,” Mr. Crook joked. According to Mr. Crook, the purpose of the hands-on activity was for his students to understand the connection between the way people act and the impact they have in society. “This area used to be the woodworking hub, especially in Gardner,” Mr. Crook said. “Today, they actually solved problems themselves,” Mr. Crook said. “I wanted to introduce how students can work with their hands to make practical things. That’s a part of education often ignored but very practical.” Mr. Crook began the day’s lesson by writing down the pros and cons of urbanization on the whiteboard. A benefit of urbanization is there’s more room for people with houses constantly being built in outlying areas. Negative aspects are the way of life for animals is being destroyed, and trees are cut down to reduce habitat. Sophomore Connor Caissie said since bats are rapidly losing their homes, he and his classmates will install the houses in the woods behind the school on Baldwinville Road. Students still have to paint the structure black since bats are more attracted to dark colors, but they completed the woodwork during one class period, Mr. Crook said. “The ecosystem, or the habitat where animals live, and the environment is getting ruined by humans acquiring more space to live,” Connor said with the sound of drills in the background. Junior Elizabeth “Lizzie” Livingston said bats don’t have as many trees to hide in due to deforestation. Bats spend the majority of their life there, she said. “They breed and nest in trees,” Lizzie said. “There are a lot of bats in this area, where there are miles of trees.” Students run cross country and track in the forested area behind the school. Lizzie said she enjoys trying to help the changing environment and called Thursday’s experiment “an experience” for the class. Sophomore Kylie LaFreniere said 10 bats could live in each home that she and her classmates built, which will kill about 2,000 mosquitoes daily. Bats eat insects. “I learned how the expansion of cities is affecting the bat population,” Kylie said to the sound of hammering in the distance. This project is the first one the U.S. History III class has done this year. The college preparatory class doesn’t focus on war history, but more about the Guilded Age, which is when America began becoming wealthy in the 1870s but degraded the environment in the process, Mr. Crook said. This project served as a demonstration, and Mr. Crook plans to have an after-school program for ninth-graders working on similar themes on Tuesdays.