KBLOG 15 Shark Skin/Snail Slime and Endless Possibilities for Students

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Image by Ben Phillips

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The Challenge:

Two of my former students were fascinated by the walking stick insects in my classroom that were climbing up a wall. They wanted to learn more. Their thought was that maybe if they could figure out how the insect foot of the walking stick adheres to the wall, they could invent a unique adhesive (see KBLOG 14: Velcro). They were engaging in biomimicry, the idea of studying and emulating nature to develop designs to solve human problems. Biomimicry was instrumental in the development of Velcro. Concepts of biomimicry are associated with the unique properties of sharkskin, which is being explored to help prevent the growth of unwanted organisms on ships. Snail slime has been studied for use in wound healing. How can teachers use the vast tablet of nature’s solutions to problems to address challenges that humans face?

A Solution:

There are hundreds of examples of biomimicry in products inspired by nature. Have your students research examples. When they get comfortable with biomimetic concepts, challenge them to develop their own ideas based on observations. The Biomimicry website is a fantastic resource, and building from that site is asknature.org. I love asknature.org. There are hundreds of examples of the adaptations and biological strategies that living things possess in order to cope with an array of environmental challenges. The entire site is beautifully organized, and students can search through it from different points of view. Your students can pick an example of something that excites them and proceed to design a human solution based on the example. If your students really get into it, they can even enter the Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge 2023! This is a great project-based learning experience that can be adapted for most grade levels.

Resources:

Ted Talk featuring Janine Benyus co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute

https://www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action

https://biomimicry.org/  - Biomimicry website

https://asknature.org/  - website with important information of specific   examples well categorized

Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge 2023

https://biomimicry.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/YDC-2023-Program-Handbook-2023-FINAL.pdf

Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge 2023 rule book

https://youthchallenge.biomimicry.org/en/challenge/youth-design-challenge-2023#rules-and-faqs