Purpose
Students investigate why mongooses are taking over campus and use math, science, research, and writing to design a community solution that protects people and native wildlife. They analyze mongoose video observations, graph population data, study habitat impacts, and apply multiplication, division, evidence-based reading, and scientific ideas about forces and magnets. With guidance from Animal Control and the Hawaiʻi Humane Society, teams define criteria and constraints, compare solutions, and build safe, nonfunctional prototype pest traps. Students present their prototypes, evidence-based calls-to-action, and learning displays at a community showcase.
Learning goals
Students will explain, using research and evidence, why mongooses thrive on campus and how they affect human health, habitats, and native Hawaiian wildlife. Students will collect mongoose-sighting data from time-lapse video, solve related multiplication and division problems, and create scaled graphs to compare patterns and possible solutions. In teams, students will define criteria and constraints, apply ideas about forces and magnets, and design, test, revise, and compare humane prototype traps. Students will use feedback from Animal Control and the Hawaii Humane Society to justify a recommended solution, write evidence-based calls to action, and communicate their learning through prototypes and displays at the showcase.
Products
Students will create observation logs and scaled graphs from time-lapse video counts of mongoose appearances, then use research notes to explain impacts on campus and native wildlife. Teams will define criteria and constraints, sketch and compare several humane trap solutions, including a design that applies magnetic force, and use feedback from Animal Control and the Hawaii Humane Society. Each team will build and test a nonfunctional prototype with simulated animals, record results, and revise its design. For the showcase, students will present their prototype, evidence-based display of learning, and a written call-to-action letter recommending a safe community response.
Launch
Show a time-lapse campus video without revealing its purpose, and have students record each mongoose appearance using tally marks. Teams compare counts, graph sightings by time or location, and discuss patterns alongside photographs of holes, droppings, and other campus impacts without touching any evidence. Introduce the essential question and invite students to map what they notice, what they wonder, and what they need to learn about mongooses, native wildlife, and humane solutions. Students then prepare questions for Animal Control and the Hawaiʻi Humane Society about safety, animal behavior, and criteria for humane trap prototypes.
Exhibition
Host a campus “Mongoose Solutions Showcase” for families, school leaders, Animal Control, and the Hawaii Humane Society. Student teams will demonstrate humane, nonfunctional trap prototypes and explain how magnets or other design features meet agreed-upon criteria and constraints without testing on live animals. Displays will include mongoose observation data, scaled graphs, research about invasive species and native wildlife, design iterations, and evidence-based comparisons of possible solutions. Students will present written call-to-action letters recommending safe next steps, answer audience questions, and gather partner feedback on their proposals.
