White-nose Wipeout is an interactive game that teaches the important role bats play in our ecosystem while also sharing information about the rapid spread of White-nose syndrome and its devastating effects on bat populations.
To play the game, each student is given a "health bat" card to tape to their shirt and asked to select a place to hibernate in a large open space such as a gym or field. The teacher (an infected bat) will wake from hibernation and infect those students in the immediate area. The infected students will turn their card over and continue to infect others for two turns, after which they will sit down. Play continues until 90% of the bats are infected.
Follow up discussion questions and a worksheet are included with the game directions and materials. An optional activity of building bat boxes is also part of the resources.
The game White-nose Wipeout would benefit the curriculum outcomes in Science classes that deal with biodiversity, ecosystems and habitats. It could be used when discussing fragile environments and threatened species in order to illustrate how disease can spread quickly. The added information, worksheet and discussion questions along with the optional bat box activity allows this game to act as a complete lesson for the Science class as well.
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