Squirrel Park

1. Leslie Pombo
October 25, 2014
Final Project
STEM 352
Stage 1: EMPATHY
Audience—students and community of Banta School/Global citizens:
Students are having their school play yard taken over by the squirrel population that tunnels
underground to provide homes for their offspring. The tunnels start with a large surface hole
where students, teachers, and the community using the play yard have been injured when
tripping in the holes. This is not only a problem at school, but anywhere you find these rodents.
It is a huge problem along the waterways since it weakens the levees with a potential of flooding.
Build Empathy: Videos--Children in hospitals with broken legs, etc. and animals who have had
to be destroyed because they broke a leg after tripping in a squirrel hole. Floods caused by
underground squirrel homes.
Empathy may shift towards the squirrels as students investigate more about this problem.
Prioritize the project: It is a serious problem because of the possibility of a child/adult being
seriously hurt and the fact that the school may be held liable. The weakening of the levee
systems throughout the world where squirrels live.
Stage 2: DEFINE
Eliminating the squirrel population on the school play yard is a serious problem. As farmers
flood their fields, homes are being built, and squirrel populations are being encroached upon,
squirrels move to open places, such as parks, school yards, and any open area providing a safe,
inviting place for squirrels to live in, raise families, and be safe is a way to do away with the
dangers they promote currently on the school play yard.
Success of project: The success of the project is determined by, at the least, reducing the squirrel
population, but best results would be to eliminate the whole population. Once that is done, the
holes may be filled in and the yard comes back to the school and community.
Glossary of terms:
 Habitat
 Rodent
 Prototype
 Rodent poisons
 Humane traps
 Inhumane traps

2. Stage 3: IDEATION
The squirrel population and problems of holes they make in the ground is a serious safety
problem at the school and worldwide where squirrels may be found. Designing a habitat that
inspires squirrels to move from their current homes to a more desirable one is our mission.
Challenge: Provide a habitat that invites squirrels to move their homes and families to a nicer
place than where they are currently.
Point of View: The school and local community is concerned with the dangers the squirrel
population has caused in the school play yard that is used by students, sports teams, and outside
communities.
How might we…?
HMW use the school acreage to entice squirrels to move their homes?
HMW get the community involved?
HMW use this as a learning project with all classes?
HMW make this a positive instead of negative project?
Ideas:
 Research habitats for squirrels, what they like to eat, how they build homes for their
young, …
 Get the community involved
 Talk to farmers for advice
Stage 4: PROTOTYPE
Students researched squirrel friendly plants, soil, obstacles, and designs that they felt would
attract squirrels. They made drawings of where plants were to be planted, what type of soil to be
used, and obstacles were to be placed. They had to set up a watering system so that plants would
continue to grow.
Redefining of the prototype will come as students observe this habitat and the connections the
squirrels will make, hopefully by moving off the play yard and into this ecofriendly place of
residence.
Create and present actual working prototype:
 Students drew up plans, presented to the class their research findings, explained why they
believe their design was the best one to attract squirrels, and students voted on the best
plan.
 Students and community built the “squirrel park”.
Feedback: After much observation, students reported on the number of squirrels still at the
school and those at the new “squirrel park”. The community was involved by noticing that there
were less/no squirrel holes on the play yard. This prototype is one that needs continuous
monitoring and maintaining of plants, etc.

3. Stage 5: TEST & LEARN
Test:
 Students documented and graphed their count of squirrels/ in new habitat and on play
yard
 Students talked to teachers and community members about what they observed
What was learned from the experience and would incorporate if revisiting the design and
prototype stages:
This is a guess since this project was not actually done.
 The squirrels actually did not move to the new habitat, but new squirrels began moving
into the supplied habitat.
 There was a small change where squirrels moved into the habitat so students researched
more and continued to try to make it an inviting place to live via plants, structures, a safe
environment, water source., etc.
 Students may have had to go a totally different way, such as trapping or eliminating
completely.
 Did moving squirrels out of play yard allow for other rodents to move in and take over?
NGSS Performance Standards for Project
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
--Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruption
to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its
populations.
LS2-A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
--Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate
whole populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may
become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. Although
the species
involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across
ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living
and nonliving, are shared.
ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions
--There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they
meet the criteria and constraints of a problem.
1. Use the engineering reasoning checklist to identify the following for your project:

4. 2. Purpose—to make a more desired habitat for ground squirrels in the vacant field
3. Problem-- to rid the school yard of squirrels and their dangerous holes
4. Assumptions—that the new habitat will convince the squirrels that it is a better habitat for
them to raise their families
5. Point of View—the squirrel problem can be controlled
6. Information—we know squirrels are causing a dangerous problem for students/staff/after
school sport teams while playing in the school yard.
7. Key Concepts—restructuring of a squirrel habitat will invite squirrels to move out of old
habitat. What would entice squirrels to move out of one habitat and into another?
8. Inferences—that making a new, friendlier squirrel habitat will cause them to move off the
campus to another home.
9. Implications—if students believe the habitat will work, they may not be as likely to look
for a different engineering plan for eliminating the squirrel population.
21st Century Skills:
 Recognizing global issues
 Understanding of the environment and the circumstances and conditions affecting it,
particularly as relates to safety.
 Investigate and analyze environmental issues, and make accurate conclusions about
effective solutions.
 Take individual and collective action towards addressing environmental challenges.
 Innovation, creativity, collaboration, implementing innovations, critical thinking,
problem solving, and decision making.