Wild Animal Challenge
How can we help a wild animal safely cross a river?
Students began the Wild Animal Challenge by choosing a wild animal found in a forest or mountain habitat. Before building, they considered the adaptations their animal would need to live and move within its environment. Students then designed and built their animals within a set of constraints. Their choices had to have a purpose from the body parts they included to the materials they selected to represent different features and adaptations.
After building, students documented their designs in their journals. They drew their animal, identified the materials they used for different parts, and recorded how their design represented the animal they had chosen. Then their animals encountered a real-world problem: There is a river in the way. How will they get across? Students had to design and build something that could help their animal cross without entering the water. They had to consider the animal they had created, the distance it needed to travel, the structure of their solution, and whether their idea would actually work.
Students built, tested, and adjusted their designs as they encountered problems. A solution that looked like it would work didn't always work once their animal was placed on it, requiring students to reconsider parts of their design.
The challenge connected life science, adaptations, writing, measurement, engineering, and problem-solving through one connected experience. Students first learned about an animal and its needs, then used that knowledge to design for it.
My hope is that students left understanding that wildlife doesn't experience habitats as separate spaces. Roads, rivers, and other barriers can affect how animals move through their environment, and people can use design to create ways for wildlife to move more safely.
If your child joined us, ask them: What adaptation did you include on your animal? What did you design to help your animal cross the river?
-Cristina
