Very fun story with a tricky curriculum. We have several notes - mostly around clarity in explaining echolocation. We wondered if a bat expert was consulted to help with kid-friendly ways to present this abstract concept. EXT CAMPSITE -- DAY The exhos will be fun for the kids to play with. My biggest concern is the idea that Ari is sending out "sounds we can't hear". Sound and sound travel is a very tricky concept for preschoolers...sounds we can't hear will likely not make sens. Is it possible for Ari to use echolocation with sounds we hear/ clicking or humming sounds? The kids could ask why he was doing that...at first he may not know and then he will learn why after the echo exploration. "Ari - 44 Elinor - 30 Olive - 34 Mr. Bat - 22 Mrs. Bat - 4 Line count - 134 (need to trim 14 lines)" It's a sunny afternoon in the forest, and ARI, ELINOR and OLIVE are on a camping trip with Ari's family. We open as Elinor and Olive are finishing setting up their tents at a campsite (we can reuse the ones from the Light The Way episode). ELINOR There. All done. OLIVE Me too. How's your tent going, Ari? We pan over to Ari as he puts on the finishing touches on his tent. ARI All set! I think I'm finally getting the hang of camping. At that moment, we hear a bit of chaotic noise. Next to Ari, we see MR. BAT having some trouble setting up the family tent from inside <SFX: OOF / URK /HMM>. ARI (O.S.) (CONT'D) Uh, Dad, do you need help? Mr. Bat's head emerges from the tent, which is a jumbled mess. MR. BAT Thanks, Ari. That would be great. I haven't quite figured this out yet. The tent collapses around him. MIRI (Ari's baby sister), in MRS. BAT's arms, <SFX: GIGGLES>. The kids go over and hold down the corners of the tent while Mr. Bat continues to try to prop up the poles. Should be “...at home we bats...” (not us bats) MR. BAT (CONT'D) Thanks, kids. You know, at home us bats usually sleep hanging from the ceiling... We see a THOUGHT BUBBLE of Mr. and Mrs. Bat sleeping upside down at their house. MR. BAT (CONT'D) ... so setting up tents and sleeping on the ground is all very new to us. ELINOR That's what makes camping an adventure! MR. BAT You're exactly right, Elinor. Camping is all about being out in Nature and doing things differently. ARI And, let's not forget, having tasty camping snacks! OLIVE (giggles) Ari liking snacks is not very different. They all <SFX: LAUGH>. ELINOR My favorite part of camping is to go exploring in a new place, so I can see and hear new things. MR. BAT Well, we'll go for a nice walk soon, just as soon as I (struggling with tent pole) finish.. setting ... up ... this ... tent ! The tent collapses again. Miri <SFX: GIGGLES> again. We aren't sure kids will understand this. What is Miri’s favorite part of camping? Watching her Dad’s tent fall down? This could be clearer since preschoolers are not great at making inferences. MR. BAT (CONT'D) (poking his head out) I think we know what Miri's favorite part of camping is. Miri continues to <SFX: GIGGLE> and the kids join in. MRS. BAT (setting Miri down and rolling up her sleeves) Oh dear. Why don't you kids go play? I'll help Mr. Bat. The kids look at each other smiling and run off. ARI Thanks, Mom! EXT. FIELD -- DAY The kids walk a few feet away to a field (within eyesight of the camp) as they talk about what to do. OLIVE What should we do? ELINOR I just learned a really fun game, want to play it? OLIVE Sure, how do you play? ELINOR It's called "Marco Polo." It's kind of like tag, but you play with your eyes closed. ARI With your eyes closed? Elinor pulls out a blindfold she brought along. ELINOR Yeah, here's how it works. If you're "it" you wear this blindfold. ARI So you can't see. OLIVE Wait... if you can't see, how do you tag anyone else? Olive pantomimes randomly tagging the air. ELINOR That's the fun part. If I'm "it" and I say " marco ", then everyone else has to say "polo." ARI Oh, I get it. So when you HEAR them say "polo", you can tell where they are, without SEEING them. OLIVE Sounds fun. Can I be "It" first? Elinor puts the blindfold on Olive. From Olive's POV , we see the blindfold go over her eyes. Everything is dark for a moment. Back to the outside view, Olive is waving her arms around. Lines 28-33 - Just wanted to flag this section from an acting standpoint. We want to make sure the kids' behavoirs when wearing the blindfold in no way would seem condescending or insensitive to blind people. OLIVE (CONT'D) Wow, I can't see anything! Ari does a silly dance. ARI Did you see that? OLIVE Nope. He does a sillier dance. ARI How about that? OLIVE I got nothing. ARI Wow, that's a good blindfold. ELINOR Ok , but can you HEAR us? Olive points to Elinor. OLIVE Yes! I can HEAR that you are right there. Ari is flying off to the side. ARI Ooh ! Can you hear me? Olive perks her ears up and points to Ari with her trunk. Would like to emphasize that she is hearing where he is. “Yes! I can hear you way up there!” OLIVE Yes! You're way up there! Hey, no flying! Ari lands. They all <SFX: GIGGLE>. ARI Cool, I like this game. ELINOR Let's play! Elinor and Ari walk to new places. OLIVE Ok , here I come! Olive takes a few tentative steps, and walks around with her hands (and trunk) in front of her. OLIVE (CONT'D) Marco! ELINOR/ARI Polo! Olive moves in the direction of Ari, who scrambles out of the way. Ari and Elinor <SFX: GIGGLE>. OLIVE Marco! ELINOR/ARI Polo! Olive moves towards Elinor, who dodges, and Olive grabs a bush instead. Seems like she would know that it wasn’t Elinor just by feeling the bush. Maybe we acknowledge that? “Got you! But you don’t feel like Elinor. (lift blindfold) Oops, you’re a bush...” OLIVE Got you! ( lifting the blindfold) Oops, you're a bush, not my friend Elinor! They all <SFX: LAUGH>. OLIVE (CONT'D) Wow, that's hard! ARI Oooh , I want to try! Olive hands him the blindfold. He ties it on as the girls find their places. ARI (CONT'D) Get ready, here I come. The girls smile and suppress their <SFX: GIGGLES> as Ari holds his arms out. As he starts walking, he moves much more confidently than Olive did. ARI (CONT'D) Let's see... where are you... He walks straight to Elinor and tags her. Lines 50-55 seem inaacurate to me. Bats know where objects are by sending out noise/ clicks that return to them...they don't magincally sense objects. Marco Polo is a good model for this...sending sound out and getting sound back. Ari should be saying Marco or atlease making clicks to find his friends. ARI (CONT'D) Got you! OLIVE Wow! You didn't even say Marco. ELINOR Yeah, how did you find me so fast, Ari? Ari shrugs. ARI I just kind of... heard you were over here? ELINOR But I was totally quiet! I never said Polo. ARI Hmm, you're right. I'm not sure. Let's try again? He puts the blindfold back on and the girls find their places. ARI (CONT'D) Marco! Agree -> ELINOR/OLIVE Lines 57-62 - We are a little confused here. Can he find her if she hides behind the bush? Seems like the bush would block his sound waves from reaching her at that point. Might be good to check in with a bat expert. We want to make sure we are portraying this behavior correctly. Polo! He heads right for Olive, who dodges out of the way and goes behind the bush. Ari easily follows her around the bush and tags her. ARI Got you! OLIVE But... how? How did you know I went around the bush? ELINOR Is the blindfold working? They check and it looks good. ARI I couldn't see anything! ELINOR Wow. I wonder how you were able to find us so well. OLIVE Yeah, even when we were super quiet? ELINOR Hmmm , we need more observations. Ari, do you have an extra eye somewhere? They check his head and forehead for a third eyeball, but don't find one. OLIVE Nope. So how did you do it? ARI (shrugging) I dunno . I can just.. hear where things are? Just then, Mr. Bat comes over. MR. BAT Good news kids! The tent is all set up, so it's time to go for a walk! The kids <SFX: YAY! AWESOME!> and follow Mr. Bat, except for Elinor, who hangs back a little, still a bit puzzled. EXT CLIFFS -- LATE AFTERNOON A cross-fade later, Mr. and Mrs. Bat lead the kids on a walk with Miri in the stroller (or in a baby carrier). Mrs. Bat takes out some baggies of trail mix. Better to have Miri in a carrier of some kind. Can’t roll a stroller in the woods MRS. BAT Here, pass these out to your friends, Ari. OLIVE Looks good. What is it? Ari passes them around. ARI It's called "trail mix" ELINOR What's that? ARI Chocolate chips and other stuff. OLIVE What other stuff? ARI I dunno . I only eat the chocolate chips. The kids <SFX: GIGGLE> as they munch on the trail mix. ELINOR I love going for a walk in a new place. MR. BAT Well, I'm excited to show you all something REALLY extra cool. They come around a bend and up to a lookout spot (with wooden guard rails) at the edge of a modest canyon. It's a nice view, and they can see pretty far down the canyon as the sun is low on the horizon. Across the canyon (not too far away) is a tall flat cliff face. OLIVE Wow, what a nice spot. It's SO beautiful here. MR. BAT Look at those smooth, tall rocks. ELINOR Wow, I've never seen rocks like that before. Ari goes to pop a chocolate chip in his mouth, but misses. He scrambles, but the chip falls over the edge. We would prefer to have another reason for Ari to shout and hear his echo for the first time. It is unsafe to encourage kids to play near the edge of the canyon like Ari is. We also don’t love having human food fall on the ground where an animal can eat it and could get sick. ARI Oh NOOOO ! A moment later, his echo returns <SFX: (ECHO) OH NOOOOO...> . The kids are all really surprised. ARI (CONT'D) Who said that? Mr. Bat smiles. MR. BAT Watch this, and you'll figure it out for yourself. He cups his hands towards the cliff. MR. BAT (CONT'D) HELLO! A moment later his <SFX: (ECHO) HELLO...> returns. Olive and Elinor are amazed, and try it themselves. ELINOR HELLO I'm Elinor! <SFX: (ECHO) HELLO I'M ELINOR...>. The kids <SFX: LAUGH>. Olive <SFX: TRUMPETS> towards the cliff and it <SFX: (ECHO) TRUMPETS> back to her! ELINOR (CONT'D) How is that happening? ARI It's like the rocks are talking back to us. MR. BAT Haha , in a way, Ari. What you're hearing is the sound of your voice bouncing off the rock and coming back to us. That sound is called an 'echo'. We see a THOUGHT BUBBLE that illustrates sound as wiggly waves being emitted from the kids. One of the wiggly lines bounces off the cliff and comes back. OLIVE Echo. I like that word. ARI That's so neat! ( to the canyon) ARI IS SO COOL! The cliff echoes back <SFX: ECHO ARI IS SO COOL>. ARI (CONT'D) Hey, the rocks agree with me. The kids <SFX: GIGGLE>. Elinor tries again. This time, she closes her eye in her effort to make it louder. Maybe "Exploring is fun" would be more to the point of what they are doing at the moment ELINOR CAMPING IS FUN! The canyon echoes back <SFX: (ECHO) CAMPING IS FUN...>. Elinor opens her eyes. ELINOR (CONT'D) Hmmm . That is SO interesting. ARI What is it Elinor? I wonder if you had Elinor shout in one direction and hear an echo and then shout in another direction and not hear an echo and then realize the cliffs must me that way because she hears the echo. ELINOR Line 94-96 - Is it actually true that other animals can tell where these cliffs would be? Elinor's claim seems like a big leap. It’s different if they are a few feet away from Ari playing Marco Polo. In general we were a bit confused by this section. It wasn't clear what this is trying to illustrate since she is always facing the rocks and seeing them when she does this, isn’t she? This isn’t quite working as a parallel to Ari’s echolocation. Maybe a bat expert would be able to help set this up in a more meaningful way to work through this thinking for the age group. I shouted with my eyes closed, and from the echo I could tell where the rocks are. OLIVE That makes sense. When the shout comes back, it comes from the rock. So you can hear where it is, even if you have your eyes closed. ELINOR (excited) The echo lets you hear where things are. OLIVE Ooohh . If we were playing Marco-Polo with the rocks, that would help. (closing her eyes) MARCO! (then) POLO! The cliffs <SFX: (ECHO) MARCO!... POLO!>. OLIVE (CONT'D) (pointing with her trunk) The rocks are that way! Elinor makes a connection. This line will make more sense if the parallel example in 94-96 is clearer. This idea is a pretty big one for Elinor without much background to make the connection. ELINOR Wait, is THAT how Ari found us when we played Marco Polo and we didn't make any sounds? Were you using echoes, Ari? ARI Was I? Again ...I don't think this is how it works with a bat...they do send 'sounds' out to bounce back OLIVE I didn't hear him making any echoes. He found us without even saying "Marco". ARI I just... heard where you were. Maybe I have a special bat-sense? Mr. and Mrs. Bat look at each other knowingly. We wondered why we never introduce the word “echolocation”? MR. BAT Actually, Ari, you do. You have a special bat echo. ARI Really? I do? I mean, of course I do. Uh, how does it work? This makes it sound like the noise itself creates echoes. But the echo is the sound bouncing off an object. Could phrase this more clearly. MR. BAT Bats can make a special noise that makes echoes. ARI Like this? <nonsense sound> OK...if this is true that other animals can not hear the clicking then some of what I said before may not really apply. I worry because sound travel is a very tricky concept for young children (and most adults). Having 'sound' you can't hear is not really developmentally appropriate. Can the script stick with sound we hear going out...and coming back? MR. BAT Haha . That's a funny noise. I mean a special noise that most animals can't hear. ELINOR Wow, really? Definitely want to see this visualization. We wonder if it will be clear to the audience what is happening here with such subtle cues. MR. BAT Yes! Only bats can hear it (he wiggles his ears), and we use it to tell what is around us. We see a THOUGHT BUBBLE that shows Mr. Bat walking in the forest, emitting sound wiggles that bounce off trees and rocks (similar to the echo visualization earlier). His ears twitch as he registers the wiggles. The kids are <SFX: AMAZED WALLA>. ELINOR Why can bats do that? MR. BAT Well, lots of bats like to fly at night. Can you guess why this special echo would be helpful? The kids think for a bit <SFX: HMMM> . or wearing a blindfold OLIVE “It’s like closing your eyes or wearing a blindfold.” I know! Because it's dark at night and you can't see! It's like closing your eyes. MR. BAT That's right. This special echo helps bats find things in the dark, like food. ARI Ooh , night snacks! They <SFX: LAUGH> and then kids sing to recap. ELINOR/OLIVE/ARI We say Echo! Echo! The rocks say "Echo"! (last word is echoed) We say "Hello! Hello!" The rocks say "Hello!" ( last word is echoed) ELINOR: I can use my eyes to see what is right in front of me. OLIVE: But bats can make a special sound To help them know What's around. ALL: Bats use echos And special ears So they can tell What's far and near We say Echo! Echo! The rocks say "Echo"! (last word is echoed) We say "Hello! Hello!" The rocks say "Hello!" ( last word is echoed) As the kids finish the song, we see and hear Ari's stomach <SFX: GRUMBLE>. MR. BAT You don't have to echo that Ari, I know what that means: it's time for dinner! Over <SFX: LAUGHTER/AWESOME> merriment, they head back to camp. EXT CAMPSITE -- EVENING It's later, and everyone is sitting around a nice campfire, roasting veggie dogs on their long sticks. OLIVE I think mine is ready. ARI Hmm, mine needs another minute. I like it extra cooked. MR. BAT You mean extra burnt? ARI No, I like it burnt just right. They <SFX: LAUGH>. Ari takes his food off the fire and Mrs Bat puts it on plates to cool. MRS. BAT It's so nice to have a cozy campfire dinner. OLIVE That reminds me! I want to read my book by the cozy campfire. MRS. BAT Great idea, Olive. OLIVE But, I left my book in my tent. She looks over into the darkness. OLIVE (CONT'D) And.. It's pretty dark over there. ARI I'll get it for you. Bats are great at getting around in the dark. He navigates confidently to Olive's tent, humming the tune from the ditty. Elinor looks at him and we see in a THOUGHT BUBBLE what she's thinking: she imagines Ari walking and the sound waves bouncing off the things around him. Ari then comes back, with an extra bag of trail mix in hand. ARI (CONT'D) Here you go, Olive. He gives Olive her book. MR. BAT And what else did you find? ARI An extra bag of trail mix. Like you said dad, bats are good at finding food in the dark! cute MR. BAT I'll echo that! Bats are good at finding food in the dark! They all <SFX: LAUGH> as the view pulls up into the starry night sky and we... FADE OUT.

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ELINOR WONDERS WHY EWW160: ECHO LOCATION Written by Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson Question: How does Ari know where things are when he’s blindfolded? Logline: The kids learn about echo-location Curriculum Goals: LS2 . Understand that animals have different body parts that are used in different ways to meet their needs. a. Identify body parts of animals and their function c. Compare how the external body parts of animals and plants are the same and/or different d. Explore how different external features of an animal help it survive in its environment. (Elinor and Olive learn that Ari’s ability to make high-pitched sounds and his sensitive ears give him a special skill – echolocation). SEP1 . Asking questions (science) and defining problems (engineering) a. Demonstrate curiosity about the greater world outside of their local environment b. Ask more complex questions about observable phenomena c. Ask and/or identify cause and effect questions that can be answered by an investigation (Ari, Elinor and Olive wonder about how their voices are bouncing back near a cliff face. so they do an investigation that leads them to the idea of echoes). SEP3 . Planning and carrying out investigations b. Compare and contrast objects and events by describing similarities and differences in detail c. Demonstrate an ability to make and test predictions based on background knowledge and experiences. (Elinor and her friend contrast the echoes they all can hear with Ari’s echolocation abilities). SEP6 . Constructing explanations (science) and Designing Solutions (engineering) a. Use background knowledge experiences, and data to construct reasonable explanations and theories of natural phenomena (science) b. Look for and describe patterns and relationships in natural phenomena (science) (Elinor, Ari and Olive use their knowledge they’ve gained experimenting with echoes to understand Ari’s echolocation) FIRST DRAFT: January 13, 2020 SECOND DRAFT: January 29, 2020 ELINOR OLIVE ARI MR. BAT MRS. BAT ELINOR/ARI ELINOR/OLIVE (V.O.) (O.S.) (O.C.) (CONT'D) (SUBTITLE) Int Ext I/E EXT CAMPSITE -- DAY FIELD -- DAY EXT CLIFFS -- LATE AFTERNOON <SFX: (ECHO) HELLO I'M ELINOR...>. ELINOR/OLIVE/ARI EXT CAMPSITE -- EVENING Day Night Afternoon Morning Evening Later Moments Later Continuous The Next Day Cut To: Fade In: Fade Out. Fade To: Dissolve To: Back To: Match Cut To: Jump Cut To: Fade To Black.