Introduction to Biomimicry

Why Biomimicry?

• Lessons in biomimicry offer true relevancy and promote environmental and ethical literacy because they focus on real problems.

• Lessons rooted in the natural world provide teachers with the perfect excuse to take the classroom outdoors, further benefiting their students’ creativity, focus, and leadership skills. 

Why Continued?

• Provides a plethora of literature for linking ELAto science and the Common Core reading standards.

• Biomimicry is collaborative and brings young people with completely different interests together, helping them develop communication skills essential to their success in a complex world.

And Lastly

• At a time when the average child spends up to seven hours a day in front of a screen, biomimicry provides a critical connection to the natural world.

• Primes the next generation to care deeply about — and thus care for — the natural systems we all depend on.

Ask Or Identify the Problem

• The Capitol has asked your team to design an invention for your assigned district of Panem. Your invention needs to specifically help address your district’s purpose (i.e., District 8 Textiles; District 10 Livestock, etc.). Your design needs to be inspired by nature and use biomimicry in terms of aesthetics, structure, or function. The Capitol will reward the teams with the most effective inventions incorporating biomimicry with additional food and supplies for the next year. You have a bag of supplies to work with and you must use these to create the prototype for your invention.

Imagine – Brainstorm Ideas and choose the best one

• Conduct research into & take notes on examples of biomimicry. Come up with a list of ideas as a group that you would like to create for your invention. Choose one.

Where do ideas come from?

BIOMIMICRY

• Bio – life

• Mimicry – copy or emulate

• The science and art of studying nature's best ideas and then imitating these designs and processes to solve human problems.

So, what does this mean to YOU?

Shoe soles that grip like a mountain goat

T-shirts that wick sweat like a horned

lizard

Fasteners that stick like burrs

Vitamins based on the diet of forest

apes

Clothing colored without dyes like a butterfly, peacock, or sea slug

Sandwich bags that biodegrade like tethers of blue mussel and zip closed like a feather

Computer screens that create color

the same way as butterfly

wings

Computers as fast as neurons

Systems interconnected like trees in a old-growth forest

What creatures will inspire you?

What possibilities can you imagine?

Can YOU look to nature for inspiration?

Here are some ways to start

• Get outside, take a hike!

• Sit quietly outside and observe

• Read books about the natural world

• Ask questions in science classes

• Research your favorite creature and all its cool functions

Always ask Why? and How?

ITQ Grant Wiki

• http://closereadingandtechnicalwritingitq.wikispaces.com/Day+8

• Biomimicry Education Network• Wild Nature Survivor guy• Earth & Sky Podcast• Ask Nature

Biomimicry Sorting Activity

• Read clue card and decide if your object matches the clue.

• If not, exchange a clue card or object with another team to make a match

• Once matched, have them follow the directions at the bottom of their card.