Background

Wildlife monitoring is the surveillance and recording of wild animals and insects in the environment. Wildlife monitoring will often merely identify and count the occurrence of all the species, a class of species such as ‘birds,’ or a specific species over a period of time, to identify trends in the data. One can monitor a region, an ecosystem, or a specific location such as a neighbourhood or someone’s backyard. The goal of monitoring is to provide useful information about the occurrence of wildlife and, therefore, the health of an ecosystem to citizens, scientists, or other authoritative organisations. Citizen science is research done by the public, or amateurs in areas of study including ecology, biology and conservation, health and medical research, and so forth.
​​​​​​​A smart electronic device is a useful instrument, machine, or gadget that is controlled by electronic circuitry microcontroller boards, or sometimes by a single-board computer like a Raspberry Pi, and that perform only a few limited functions. We have many different kinds of devices at home, on our person, or at school to perform useful work for us, or to provide us with information, in order to increase our well-being.
 

The design brief

Design a wildlife monitor for monitoring the movements and activities of wildlife in your neighbourhood, town or region, using simple electronic circuitry, or a microcontroller board like the Arduino. The wildlife monitor should collect data on wildlife to inform the residents and to assist the authorities or researchers with an interest in the wildlife, while encouraging environmental awareness and positive community relations. The wildlife monitor should be located within the property boundaries of residents of the neighbourhood. Construct a working prototype of your wildlife monitor and test it. Work on this project in a small team with a group of your classmates.
 

The design thinking process

​​​​​​​Follow the six stages of the design thinking process to ensure that you are thorough and do everything necessary to succeed in your design project. First, you endeavour to understand the design topic and EMPATHISE with the needs of the users. With that understanding, you can DEFINE what is essential to the product or system that you are designing. Then you IDEATE, that is, you creatively come up with ideas and develop them. The next step is to PROTOTYPE your chosen design solution in a physical form and improve it through trial-and-error. Then you TEST your design idea to elicit the opinions of users. And finally, at the end of the process, you REFLECT upon your project to benefit from the experience. Use the appropriate methods from the Design Thinking for Schools website as you proceed along the design thinking process.
 

Note for teachers

Undertaking a student design project using electrical parts or microcontrollers such as Arduino requires:

• teachers who are able to supervise such a project;
• laboratories or workshops with electrical and electronic parts and tools;
• ​​​​​​​and students who are trained to work with electricity, tools, and equipment.

Read the guide for teachers on Safety for the PROTOTYPE Stage for Level IV to safely supervise this design project.