BRAINSTORMING

Not sure where to start?

Try this process to help your team choose and explore an animal problem:

Choose an animal. It might be an animal that lives in your home or neighborhood. It might be an animal that you have seen at a zoo, aquarium, or farm. Learn about the ways people interact with this type of animal. (People must interact with this animal in some way to be valid for ANIMAL ALLIES.) Ask questions like:

• When people interact with your animal, is it on purpose or by accident?

• Does the interaction help or hurt people, the animal, or both?

• What type of professionals work with or study your animal?

• Do you notice any ways that the interaction could be better – more productive, healthier, or happier for either the person or the animal?

Look for these problems as you research. This might be a great time for the team to interview a professional. Search for and learn from a professional online (this could be someone who works directly with animals or researches animal problems for his or her job). Can this professional help you learn about animal health, safety, enrichment, or living environments? Identify a specific problem with the way people interact with your animal. You might select a problem in one of these areas (or add your own):

• Animals accidentally harmed by an activity that helps people

• Recreating a natural living environment inside human-made buildings

• Feeding

• Finding the right enrichment activities for a specific animal

• Healing injured or sick animals

• Managing feces

• Natural animal instincts accidentally harming people

• Conserving endangered species

• Transportation

After you select a problem, the next step is to find out about the current solutions. Research the problem using resources like:

• News articles

• Documentaries or movies

• Interviews with professionals working in the field

• email your teacher (Mrs. Burdock) and librarian (Mrs. Schilpp) ali.schilpp@garrettcountyschools.org

• Scholastic TrueFlix (login in gcpsxxxx) and your 4-digit lunch code

(search ANIMAL KINGDOM in TrueFlix)

• Online videos

• Websites

After you select a problem, find out about the current solutions. Why does this problem still exist? Why aren’t the current solutions good enough? What could be improved? Decide when you feel that you know your animal and problem pretty well. Then, move on to the “Design an Innovative Solution” section. DESIGN A SOLUTION Next, your will design a solution to the problem. Any solution is a good start. The ultimate goal is to design an innovative solution that adds value to society by improving something that already exists, using something that exists in a new way, or inventing something totally new. Think about:

• What could be done better? What could be done in a new way?

• Could your solution make people and animals more productive, healthier, or happier?

• How can you reimagine the way we work with or study animals?

• Could you use an adaptation from an existing animal (biomimicry) to help solve the problem you identified?

Ask yourself to think of the problem like a puzzle. Brainstorm! Then turn the problem upside down and think about it in a completely different way. Imagine! Get silly! Even a “silly idea” might inspire the perfect solution. Be encouraged to try one idea (or more), but be prepared that the first idea may need some improvements. Make sure you think about how you could make your solution a reality. Try asking them questions like:

• Why would your solution succeed when others have failed?

• What information would you need to estimate the cost?

• Do you need any special technology to make your solution?

• Who would be able to use it?

Remember, your solution does not need to be completely new. Inventors often improve an idea that already exists or use something that exists in a new way.

A great solution might be a device or technology, but maybe not. Look for the solution that the team thinks will solve the problem best. Be prepared to share what makes their idea better than the existing solutions.

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