A LESSON IN SHARING AND COLLABORATION
Without them, we starve.
Global problems are a reality but individuals can make a difference.
The 6th graders of SISQ make their voices heard.
Without them, we starve. Global problems are real but individuals have the choice and power to make a difference. The 6th graders of SISQ make their voices heard
IB LEARNERS AT SISQ ARE CARING THEY USE DATA TO IDENTIFY PROBLEMS AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS TO DEVELOP CREATIVE SOLUTIONS. THESE ARE CALLED ATTITUDES TO LEARNING.
Š SISQ Individuals and Societies Do you enjoy chocolate? How about strawberries? Perhaps you enjoy a good cheeseburger? But maybe you don’t enjoy those irritating bees that come into your house. And bats just give you the creeps. And pesky birds irritate you when they eat the fruit in your garden. But without those scary, irritating creatures, we would lose 75% of our food supply and bees alone produce food worth over $500 billion. Einstein himself noted that if the bees die, humans will soon follow. Unfortunately, due to human greed, bees (and other pollinators) are under threat.
Join our 6th graders on their adventure to save the planet and create awareness about how humans and pollinators can live together in harmony.
Welcome to Bourges.
A
varicum. Place of water. This is the name that the ancient Romans gave to Bourges when Julius Caesar invaded this region of France.
As you can see, it is still possible to visit the ancient Roman ramparts and our students will go on an exciting virtual visit to the same marshes that Julius Caesar crossed.
ff
Unlike Caesar, we are not greedy conquerors but global citizens with an urgent mission to highlight how people like you and me can make an important di erence to saving the planet.
You see, Bourges is also a natural heritage site where ordinary people are making a huge di erence to ensure that humans live in harmony with animals. Our students are about to discover how traditional farming methods, geographical skills and biolo y might just protect the world from starvation. Please join us on our adventure to save the planet by reading our very own publication where the 6th graders will highlight how WE can make a di erence.
g
ff
ff
WE ARE INCREDIBLY PROUD OF OUR STUDENTS FOR THE COLLABORATION THAT THEY HAVE SHOWN. THE FRENCH STUDENTS ARE TRANSLATING AND STUDENTS ARE SUPPORTING ONE ANOTHER AS EDITORS. DESPITE
Friends or Foes? This article investigates whether bats and humans can live together in harmony - Claire Olivier Imagine a boxing match. In the red corner, we have a creepy bat. “Don’t bats spread Covid?”, I hear you say. And don’t they drink blood and turn into vampires? Surely, it’s a well known fact that they y into your hair at night just to terrorize you... Or do they? In order to investigate whether bats and humans can live in harmony, Mrs Olivier decided to visit the Natural History Museum of Bourges where she met bat expert Amelie Chrétien.
fl
First of all, Amelie reminds us that bats are mammals too and very similar to humans. Just look at our skeletons.
There is also no evidence that bats do cause Covid and, in fact, they actually eat mosquitos and prevent malaria and other diseases. Did you know that one bat can eat 600 mosquitos?
fi
So what about our side of the boxing ring? According to the Museum of Bourges, we are de nitely far scarier than bats. Bats drown in our swimming pools and get stuck in our fences. They die on our road and in our windscreen wipers. We poison them, throw stones at them, chase them from our houses (which are their homes too) and pollute the skies with electric lights so they can’t hunt.
That’s right - we have the same rib cage, pelvis, arms and very similar jaws and skulls. Bats give birth to life babies that they breastfeed. When Amelie rescues baby bats, she has to feed them kitten milk from a paintbrush - just like a mommy bat!
This looks hopeless but Amelie has good news for us. Saving the Climate and Saving the Bats Bats are a lot like 6th graders - very curious little creatures. To a bat, a wind farm is like a giant forest of trees. Until they get sliced to death by the blades.
g
Wind ener y is becoming a very popular fuel source in France and the rest of Europe where it is designed to save the environment by reducing air pollution but many bats and birds pay a heavy price when they get sliced by the blades.
The university staff made an agreement with the France Énergie Éolienne (the owners of the wind farms) to develop a creative way to save the bats and keep the farms productive.
The museum staff mapped where they found the dead bats and when they found them so that they could let the wind farms know when the bats would be flying.
The blades turn at a speed of up to 280 km/hr and during the period when the bats fly into France (migration period), the museum has arranged for the wind farms to slow down the blades.
This results in only a 3% loss of production but saves 90% of the bats flying through the farms. Paths of Darkness
f
Bats like rhinolophes, barbastelles and grands murins cannot live in areas that are lit by arti icial lights. The museum has negotiated with the cities to change the lighting in the areas where the bats have babies.
The big red blog is Paris and you can see how much light pollution is being produced . Bourges is the much smaller red dot on the bottom right hand corner because the museum persuaded the city to use safer lights and actually switch off their lights during breeding seasons so the bats could ind husbands and wives and have bat families. Mommy, I’m hungry Amelie took us into the bat sanctuary where they rescue baby bats and injured animals. Firstly, they help residents to make bat homes (“nichoirs”) in their own buildings. Guess what? One of the bat nests was on the roof of my home!
f
f
Secondly, people can bring in bats if they ind them injured in their windshield wipers, swimming pools or fences. They then get delicious kitten milk meals
When the bats get older, they then get fed some worms.
Look right. Look Left...and cross! Unfortunately, bats also get squashed in tra c so the university sta came to the rescue, once again.
ff
ffi
ff
At night, bats were going to hunt in the countryside and had to cross a busy highway so the university sta tracked the bats and built them a bridge so they could cross safely.
So, are bats and humans friends or foes? Can they live happily together?
This little rescue bat and mommy Amelie seem to think we can!
ff
A big thank you to the sta of the museum of Natural History (Bourges).
About our experts Michel Olivier At 81 years old, Michel uses organic and sustainable farming methods to produce, fruits, vegetables, salads and herbs without causing any environmental harm. He also protects bees and provides recipes for using “ugly crops� and avoiding food waste.
Michel will be allowing us onto his farm and showing the students how to look after bees, protect birds and mice and grow tomatoes without any pesticides.
Amelie ChrĂŠtien As a chiropterologist, Amelie has dedicated her career to educating the public about the importance of bats and inding creative ways for bats and humans to live in harmony. Amelie will show our students how to transfer skills from biolo y and geography into creative solutions to protect both bats and human development.
g
f
She also rescues bats in distress and she will teach our students how to feed baby pipistrelles with kitten milk and a paint brush.