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:
Hidden Miracles of the Natural World: Louis Schwartzberg (TED)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
As far as I see in my everyday life, velcro straps are in my cap or my trainers. Nowadays, we're in quarantine and I usually see red-and-blue lights of the police car driving which has a similarity to fireflies.
Forklift trucks. The forks on them was inspired by elephants lifting things with their tusks.
An example of biomimicry I see in my everyday life is the velcro in my tennis visor.
I find velcro straps a part of my everyday life.
An example is velcro in my cap when I want to tighten it more the hole is getting smaller.
por ejemplo en velcro en mis bolsas
Velcro
Velcro straps
Velcro
Velcro, airplanes, helicopters, tyres,etc.
Velcro in my shoes and helicopters in the sky
Bicycle,airopane and motor cycle,velcro
Airplane, velcro straps
Climbing pads capable of supporting human weight
Velcro straps
Velcro, airplanes, helicopters, trees, etc.
airplanes are something that you see every day
velcro, motorcycles, car tires,
The way we learn to store up, invest and earn for our future has been copied from the very industrious ants. But humans also have copied the concept of colonization, slavery and human trafficking from these creatures. So values clarification should be taken into consideration too, for a better distinction between a human and an animalistic behavior.
Eyfel kulesi uyluk kemiğinden esinlenerek tasarlanmıştır
Airplanes patterned from how birds fly.
The surface of the leaf's lotus - the surface of hydrophobic materials.