STEM kids find solutions to save beaver family’s habitat
(DENVER) — Students from a STEM Launch program in Denver are attempting to help a family of beavers that live in a creek that flows behind their school.
The third and seventh-grade students of STEM Launch K-8 of Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Thornton, Colorado, are teaming up to find solutions that will preserve the beaver family’s habitat while also protecting the ecosystem. Beaver dams can add stability to—and also inadvertently create problems for—their surrounding environment. The kids are looking for ways to support the ecosystem without disturbing the beavers’ peace.
Third-graders in the STEM Launch program are focusing on understanding ecosystems, and how the beavers fit into, and affect, their surroundings. Seventh-graders are looking at how beavers’ dam-building activities inadvertently affect their surroundings. The kids are studying a specific family of beavers who have made their home in Niver Creek.
According to a press release from STEM Launch Coordinator Felicia Evans, the kids are learning something from this project that goes beyond science. They are learning responsibility and kindness.
The students are preparing to present their findings on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2024. “While their dam-building activities are causing environmental concerns, our students are exploring solutions that protect both the beavers and the local ecosystem,” explained Evans. “What better day to showcase their love for nature and wildlife than on Valentine’s Day?”
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