Script: Welcome back to Ingenia! Today we are visiting Ingenia’s Design Center to learn about design as Technical Designers in Training. A Technical Designer works with fashion designers to ensure the items they are creating meet the wants and needs of the people who will use them.
The Technical Designers at Ingenia’s Design Center have been working with engineers and scientists to create some bio-inspired designs that can be used to help make Ingenia more safe! What do you think it means for something to be bio-inspired? Pause for student response. Bio is short for biology, or the study of living things, and when you are inspired that means you take ideas from something. So bio-inspired means we take ideas from living things.
You have all been learning about safety signals and ways that animals protect themselves through camouflage or bright warning colors. The Technical Designers could use your help putting all that knowledge together to create some bio-inspired safety gear. Think you can help us out? Wait for student response.
Great! First, let’s learn more about some of the ways people have been inspired by living things and nature to design new things. Creating new things inspired by animals is something called “biomimicry” and we will be learning all about that today. Are you ready to get started?
Opening Script [5 min]: Do you know what a pattern is? Pause for answers. That’s right, a pattern is something that happens in a repeated, predictable way. Draw a simple pattern on the board such as “circle square circle square” as an example and have students predict what shape should come next.
Today, we are going to play a dancing game that involves you copying or “mimicking” different dance patterns. Has anyone heard the word “mimic” before? Pause for answers. Mimic means imitating or copying something. We will get back to that word a little bit later. Are you ready to dance and master some patterns?
Play Dance Mimicry Game [10 min]
Students will learn about different ways animals signal or hide to protect themselves and others from danger.
Materials: for the class
10 min Script: We’ve been learning about how people and animals use signals, like warning colors, to protect themselves or camouflage to hide themselves from danger. People can take inspiration from animals to design new things or improve existing things. I’m going to read some riddles. Each riddle is about a thing people have made that has been inspired by animals:
Riddle 1:
Look up and you’ll find me
Soaring in the sky.
With a long narrow body
And wings on each side.
[answer: airplane]
Ask students:
Riddle 2:
You cannot pry me off
Unless you break the seal.
My grip upon the glass
is the real deal.
[answer: suction cup]
Ask students:
Riddle 3:
I help you close your bag and shoes
I’m sticky, but do not use glue.
I make a sound you’ll recognize
And feel different on each side.
[answer: velcro]
Script: When people take inspiration from animals and plants to copy, or mimic, their designs it is called biomimicry.
Students will work in groups to research human-made technologies that use biomimicry. Using 4 key facts about the technology, groups will brainstorm a list of animals they think inspired the design.
5 min Script: There are many different things that have been designed using biomimicry. I will show you 3 images of bio-inspired designs. (Optional: You can also provide each group with copies of the pictures so they can see the images up close). Listen to the facts about each design and brainstorm a list of animals that may have inspired the design. You can use paper and pencils to keep track of your group's ideas.
20 min Brainstorm Time: Divide students into groups. Show the pictures and read the facts. Allow time for students to brainstorm a list of animals before moving on to the next image. Walk around as groups discuss and help students to read the facts and generate a list of possible animals that inspired each design.
Clue for Slide 8
Facts about wind turbines:
Wind turbines use wind to make electricity. Wind turns the propeller-like blades of a turbine around a rotor, which spins a generator, which creates electricity.
Have you ever stuck your hand out of a car window while driving and noticed that the air pushes your hand upward? That’s lift. Lift is what pushes the windmill blades around.
To make windmills better, the blades have a bumpy edge which allows the blades to spin faster and quieter.
<PAUSE> In nature, this animal also has a bumpy edge on its body called tubercles.
The tubercles help the animal to glide quickly through the water which is important since it’s so heavy.
Clue for Slide 9
Facts about rooftops
What comes to mind when you think about a desert? Hot and dry, right? Did you know that gardens grow in the middle of the desert?
People are building greenhouses and other structures to collect water from the air. Water can be found in the air as tiny droplets or sometimes they can be visible in the form of fog.
The rooftops are made with hydrophilic surfaces. This allows the water to bead up rather than absorbing it.
The roofs are also built on a slant so the water can gather, travel through pipes, and be collected to use later.
<PAUSE>This animal has the ability to collect drops of water on its wax-free back which is covered in water-repellant bumps. The insect can then tilt its body to allow beads of water to slide toward its mouth.
Clue for Slide 10
Facts about windows
Windows are a great addition to a building because they allow you to see what is outside.
However, windows can cause problems because they are transparent or clear, so sometimes, birds can fly into them.
Glass is now covered with a special film or coating that humans cannot see but the birds can! The special glass will “glow” for birds because it reflects UV light.
<PAUSE> In nature, there is an animal that does not want to have their delicate home destroyed. They use a special pattern that also reflects UV light. Since birds can see UV light, they know to fly around to avoid a sticky situation.
5 min Regroup & Share: Gather students together with their brainstormed lists. Have students share:
10 min Use the Museum of Design, biomimicry design challenge lessons to reveal the animal that inspired the design.
Watch [10 mins]: You have learned about some pretty useful technologies that use biomimicry. Let’s take a look at two videos to learn even more about biomimicry (your choice of what to show).
Debrief [5 mins]: Debrief using one or more of the following prompts:
Planning time: Choosing an Animal [15 mins]
Script: We have learned about a lot of tools and products designed using biomimicry. Now YOU get the chance to imagine you are a Technical Designer working with designers, scientists and engineers to create your own design inspired by an animal. You will specifically be designing a piece of safety gear inspired by an animal.
Before you do that, you will begin by thinking about what animal you would like to take inspiration from. As Technical Designers, we need to know a lot about animals if we are going to mimic them in our designs. That is what we will be working on right now.
Instructions:
Sing and dance to the Biomimicry Song (available to play here: The Biomimicry SONG | Science for Kids | Grades K-2 www.youtube.com/@GenerationGenius). Walk through the song lyrics and then have students sing and dance. Encourage students to use “biomimicry” to inspire their dance moves! Can they dance and move in ways inspired by different animals? Can you guess what animal each student is mimicking in their dance moves?
Students can continue finding examples of biomimicry at home! Encourage students to walk around their home and keep a list of any objects they discover that seem inspired by an animal or other living thing. They should note what the object is and what living thing inspired it. If they aren’t able to find any clear examples of biomimicry, they can choose any object in their home to focus on and think about how the object’s design could be changed or improved by taking inspiration from nature. Using paper and pencils/crayons/pens they can create a new design for the object that uses biomimicry!
