Head back to the
Quest to finish our lesson, or continue exploring these great videos to learn how designers study nature to improve the ways we make stuff. It's no wonder we're so inspired by the natural world— nature has been “product testing” for billions of years!
Watch 1:
What Is Biomimicry? (Fast Company)Watch 2:
8 Useful Technologies Inspired by Nature (SciShow)Watch 3:
Science Copies Nature’s Secrets-Biomimicry (IFSVND)
LEARN + INTERACTTest the power of nature and find the strength of an eggshell with this project from
Science Sparks. (for ages 11-14)
Search for instances of biomimicry in your life. Grab a pencil and paper or download an
Inventor’s Notebook from the Spark Lab. Then, make a list of the products you use each day. Can you think of something in nature that might have inspired their shape or function? (for all ages)
Draw a detailed picture of one of the most amazing things you have observed in nature (for example: a turtle’s shell, a field of flowers, a porcupine’s spine). What is distinctive about its shape? What are its key parts? How does it “work”? How is it connected to other parts of nature? (for all ages)
Read teacher John Marconi and his students’
very detailed report about green cities and think about your town. What parts of your city or town are your favorite? Least favorite? How would you improve them? Draw inspiration from nature as you design improvements. (for ages 15-18)
ACT + SHARELead a discussion with your family (or online with your neighbors!). Ask everyone about a specific problem they or your community is facing. How do you think nature could solve this problem? (for all ages)
Observe nature for a few minutes and then write a poem about the form and function of something that caught your attention. Ask your parents or teacher for help sharing your poem online with #EarthSchool. (for all ages)
Write a letter to someone from your local government or to a community leader. Explain what biomimicry is, then show them a nature-based design that can improve your community. Suggest what they could do to help make this happen. Need help constructing your letter? Here’s a
sample. (for all ages)
Watch a new
movie on biomimicry and climate change narrated by pioneering biomimicry expert, Janice Benyus, and share the link with a friend. Feeling really ambitious? Attend her entire online
course. (for ages 15-18)
WANT MORE?Watch this
video from Berkus Design Studio to learn how architects get inspired by the natural world. (for all ages)
Watch designer Neri Oxman talk about
Design at the Intersection of Technology and Biology and learn about other ways to get original perspectives from biomimicry. (for ages 15-18)
Read about
7 surprising technologies inspired by nature with Live Science. (for ages 15-18)
Design an improvement for your neighborhood. Pick a problem (litter in a local park, not enough parking spaces, a run down building, for example), and use what we’ve learned about biomimicry to figure out a way to improve the issue. Before you begin, brush up on your design skills with
this tool, which is used by world class designers at Stanford University. (for ages 15-18)
Create a new civilization. Lots of species live underground. Could humans?
Design an underground civilization with this project developed by educator John Spencer. (for ages 11-18)
This Earth School Quest was created by the following incredible educators and environmental experts: Richard Matthew, Steve Davis and Bill Tomlinson, University of California Irvine
Based on this lesson, to learn from the time-tested solutions that exist but we do not know of, so that we can apply it to solve our local problems.
Beyond that, non-local learning is important to help us understand the inter-connectivity of our world through System Dynamics. As Peter Senge says "our interdependence is increasing but our awareness of interdependence is decreasing". By knowing how our consumer choices here affect farmers' poverty halfway across the globe, we better appreciate what is needed to reverse climate change!
For those interested, Donella Meadows has simple resources for System Dynamics: (1) YouTube video of her lecture in 1977 (2) Book on Thinking in Systems
it is important because it gives engineers and scientist new ideas and ways to discover and create new innovations.
According to the video, silk spider is 100 times thinner than a human hair, inside it, it's found bacterias, and 10 times smaller than that: a virus, and if we continue with that proportionality, 10 times smaller, three strands of DNA. Nanotechnology is part of the most updated understanding, which is very useful in many aspects, especially in Biology and Medicine. More than that, it allow us to see each part from our environment, find out, discover and solve problems through looking what we have around.
It is important to see ecosystems that are not local us so that we can learn from them. And so that we can apply that learning to solve our problems.
Unless people do not venture outside their immediate area, they do not get any new ideas.
so we can see the nature in ways we can not with our eyes
It is important for people to see ecosystems, nature, animals, and environments that are not local to us, so we can learn from them, and just appreciate the beautiful nature we have been given.
It is important because it gives engineers and scientists new ideas and ways to discover and create new innovations.
es importante ya que en cualquier tipo de ecosistemas hay diferentes mecanismos de funcionamiento que nos aportan ideas
It helps us learn more about our planet and all the life that is around us.
La importancia de los diseños en la arquitectura natural simplemente es la mejor y mucho mas eficiente , ya que ella nos muestra mejores diseños y mas resistencia en sus materiales; y esto nos lleva desde luego a más conocimiento para nuevos proyectos mas seguros y de materiales de mas calidad y no debemos olvidar que también serian mucho mas amigables al medio ambiente y mas fascinantes a nuestra percepción y sentidos
Gives us a wider perspective
It helps engineers and scientists to discover and create things to inspire young people to see ecosystems, nature and many many other things that have not yet been discovered. You never know! If you are inspired by all these things,even you sitting there can become one who discovers the unknown. You never ever know! It could happen and it could not happen but God has a plan for each one of us.
To help us, first understand how nature works, and based on that find solutions to our questions.
It is important as it gives us the very solution for creating many advanced technologies.
I didn't know that termite nest cools it self.
It is important because nature has the BEST structures. If we look at nature's structures then we can build a strong building for example. We can have a better environment
People should see and understand the different topography, nature and other features to see the variety the nature is offering. This helps to appreciate and acknowledge the beauty of our nature
It is very important question.In the world, business men will need to develop our country.
It is very important question.In the world, business men will need to develop our country.
It is important for people to see ecosystems, nature, animals, and environments that are not local to us inorder for us to be aware of there beneficial, as they provide us with essential products and benefits. Most of our food comes from terrestrial ecosystems, which also gives us materials needed.
this lesson simply shows that we do not know our mother nature yet much.
There are at lot of things out there we need to learn ,and apply in our daily lives in scientific way.
Unless people do not venture outside their immediate area
It is important for people to see ecosystems, nature, animals, and environments that are not local to us, so we can learn from them, and just appreciate the beautiful nature we have been given.
so we can see nature a a way we can't see with eyes
Its important for people to nature in a different perspective. A lot of humans are pretty close minded and believe that they are bigger than they actually are. Us as humans are a lot smaller than other things in nature. If you don't discover other ecosystems, you won't know anything about nature. Some countries only have certain kinds of plants. if you don't travel and allow yourself to WANT to see more, than you won't know all the stuff out there.
To give people a different perspective on informing them about the reasons of our existence in this world and that all things living and non-living are interconnected.
Exposure to other ecosystems and nature might help create new solutions to problems local only to that region.
Because going beyond our environment gives us a new hope and a glimpse of new world. By this we let our minds wonder and gives us ideas.
Being able to see these elements of nature not local to us allows us to develop more diverse biomimicry. It also enables us to see ourselves and our immediate surroundings as a part of a greater system, so that as we create new technologies we will be better conservationists
If we see these different ecosystems we will want to preserve them, because they may be even more diverse than ours and we will want to preserve them even more.
So that we can discover new things and new creatures and trying to protect them so they don't extinct.