Caverns Sponsors Electronic Field Trip

Date: October 24, 2007
Contact: Marjorie Thomas, 575.785.3127

Do you want to learn more about the bats of Carlsbad Caverns National Park? The park is sponsoring a FREE electronic fieldtrip (or eFieldTrip) for students and teachers to learn all about them. Running now through the end of the 2007-2008 school year, the park will offer schools nationwide the opportunity to participate in the eFieldTrip “Bats! Fantastic Mammals of Flight.” Through the eFieldTrip, students and other participants will learn about bats, the characteristics that make them mammals, their habits and how they are beneficial to Carlsbad Caverns’ ecosystem.

Carlsbad Caverns sponsors this electronic fieldtrip as a way to teach students across the country—who may never have a chance of visiting the park—about the only mammals capable of true flight.

The eFieldTrip has four components:

• Virtual Visit. An interactive multi-media web experience that students can complete at their own pace.
• Trip Journal. A worksheet for students to complete as they participate in the Virtual Visit.
• Ask an Expert. Students may post questions on the eFieldTrip website October 23 through October 25, and receive an answer from an expert within one to two days.
• Live Chat.Students may phone in questions and have them answered “live” by a park ranger on October 31.

What do you need to participate? If you have access to the Internet at your school, in your classroom, or at home, you can participate! There is no cost for your school or students to participate. Carlsbad Caverns National Park offers this program as a free educational outreach opportunity.

For more information, or to register your school to participate, please visit www.eFieldTrips.org/bats. You may also contact the park’s education office at 505.785.3127 to learn more about the electronic fieldtrip or other educational activities.