This lesson will encourage students to look at the ways nature has influenced science and engineering. Biomimicry is the science of imitating nature to make human life better. Through these activities students will examine objects created through biomimicry, and then create their own idea based on biomimicry. (Most appropriate for grade levels 3-5.)
Lesson Time: 60-70
Student Activity 1 and 2: This activity has student groups looking at examples of every-day objects. Together they will try to figure out what inspired the product, by matching them to things found in nature.
Student Activity 3: Students will look at examples of things in nature that are carried by wind or that glide through the air. After a brief discussion of how Orville and Wilbur Wright tested ideas and wing shapes by making and flying gliders, student groups will engineer a carrier that will fly a small toy from one side of a desk to the other. The carrier will travel by wind and not by another animal or have an engine.
Group work: Students will work in groups of 2-3 students. In order to save time, teachers are asked to create the groups before our Wizard arrives.
Science Standards:
3.LS.2: Individuals of the same kind of organism differ in their inherited traits. These differences give some individuals an advantage in surviving and/or reproducing.
3.LS.3: Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments.
3.ESS.1: Earth’s nonliving resources have specific properties
3.PS.1: All objects and substances in the natural world are composed of matter.
4.LS.1: Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful.
5.LS.1: Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem.
Please see the Nature of Science document on our Lesson Standards page.
Critical Technology Connections:
The "Biomimicry" lesson strongly connects to Biotechnology as it showcases bio-inspired design, a key aspect of this field. By exploring nature-inspired inventions and creating their own, students engage in a core principle of biotechnology: learning from and mimicking biological systems to develop new technologies and solve human challenges. This aligns with the DoD's interest in biomimicry for innovations in areas like materials science and design, highlighting the relevance of this lesson to a critical technology area.