Biomimicry

Teacher Resources

Biomimicry Essentials for Educators

The Biomimicry Institute is a great place to dive into the science of biomimicry. Review the basic principles of biomimicry.

Ask Nature offers real-world examples of biomimicry in action. Take a look at its Collections page, its fascinating Biological Strategies feature, and its Innovations page highlighting products and design solutions inspired by the natural world.

Sharing Biomimicry with Young People is an excellent introduction for K-12 educators to the core concepts of biomimicry and the power of these principles in the classroom.

Biomimicry Explained is a 7-minute introduction to the principles of biomimicry that challenges designers to mimic nature’s forms, processes, and ecosystems.

The Promise of Biomimicry is a 22-minute film introducing teachers to the emerging discipline of biomimicry and the entrepreneurs who are solving global challenges by asking “How would nature do this?”

From the Smithsonian’s STEMVisions, Five Things To Know About Biomimicry is a concise summary of key principles. When Animals Inspire Inventions, also from the Smithsonian, shows that nature “never stops providing answers.”

How Biomimicry Works describes the three components of biomimicry in science and design: Human Need, Nature’s Example, and Biomimetic Solution.

As a relatively new science, advances in biomimicry are frequently highlighted in contemporary news sources. Take a look at Natural-Born Automatons: Next Gen Robots Take Cues From Biology, Inspired By Nature: The Thrilling New Science That Could Transform Medicine, or Nature’s Water Purifiers Clean Up Lakes. Encourage your students to watch for new developments in biomimicry and share them with the class.

PBS Learning Media

Build It From Nature invites young children (K-1) to think about how nature influenced the design of airplanes, trains, and swim fins. Martha Speaks: Super Inventions is also aimed at young children and includes a story, vocabulary exercise, and quiz.

In Mother Nature’s Shoes from SciGirls, the girls research gripping adaptations such as polar bear paws, snake scales, and penguin feet as they go through the design process in their quest to create a safer shoe for walking on icy winter streets.

The following PBS video lessons, appropriate for grade levels 3-5 and 6-8, demonstrate specific examples of biomimicry and include discussion questions, teaching tips, and/or handouts for student activities.

Biomimicry Examples offers a slideshow of problem-solving inventions, side by side with features from nature that inspired them, for a first introduction to biomimicry.

Bioinspiration: Nature as Muse, with accompanying Educator Guide, highlights the work of biologists and engineers who work together to design products inspired from structures in nature.

PBS Newshour lessons How Mimicking Nature Inspires New Inventions and How Animals Help Us Design New Inventions to Solve Environmental Problems challenge secondary students to design their own invention using biomimicry to solve a school or community problem. Expanded lesson plans accompany the videos.

Exploring Models Inspired By Nature is part of the Inspiring Young Scientists webcast series for educators, designed to help teachers engage students in the engineering design process and innovations inspired by nature.

Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources

Ask Nature: For Educators has a wealth of standards-aligned teaching guides, lesson plans, and activities to engage your students in learning about biomimicry. Take a look at Introducing Biomimicry in grades K-2, Introducing Biomimicry in grades 3-5, Introducing Biomimicry in Middle School, and Introducing Biomimicry in High School.

Ask Nature has a complete collection of Educator Resources that you’ll want to look at. Check out Biomimicry Stories, Biological Strategies, Innovations, and Engineering Inspired By Nature. You might even send your students on a scavenger hunt through the Ask Nature site.

Each of these activity lesson plans can easily be adapted for a range of grade levels:

The Language of Biomimicry encourages students to use vocabulary terms employed by scientists, such as trait, function, biological strategy, biological model, and design strategy.

Teach Engineering offers two lesson plans, Biomimicry: Natural Designs (3-5) and Design Inspired By Nature (6-8).

Nature’s Copycats is a primary-grade lesson plan that includes a reproducible take-home booklet.

The National Museum of Natural History has a lesson on Butterfly Colors and Biomimicry. Watch the supplementary video Biomimicry and Butterflies: How Nature Is Inspiring Design and Innovation.

Biomimicry For Kids: Activities and Resources is filled with ideas for teachers to use with kids who show interest in biomimicry.

STEMAZing: Biomimicry is a collection of teacher-tested lessons and resources ready for use in the classroom.

Right On Kids: Biomimicry offers teaching ideas that focus on animals’ unique adaptations.

Many universities now have centers for the study of biomimicry, and some, such as Arizona State University, have developed lessons for K-12 classrooms.

National Geographic’s middle-school lesson plan for Engineering Inspirations from Nature challenges students to follow the design process to create an underwater vehicle.

Whirly Birds: A Study in Biomimetics is a fun hands-on activity where students use patterns in nature to design and evaluate their own whirly birds.

Students treat shoes with wax coating, similar to the substance on water-resistant nasturtium plants, in the activity Waterproof Shoe DIY. See the accompanying teaching material including a video, discussion questions, and reading selections.

Biomimicry Mash-Up challenges students to design a new human object by using an organism’s special adaptation as inspiration.

More Classroom Resources

Introduce your students to kids who have been involved in biomimicry design at a young age. For example, meet the 13-year-old who created a solar cell based on his observations of tree branches. 

Biomimicry examples are endlessly fascinating! Here are some to share with your students:

Gear Up For Nature, from Canada’s Museum of Ingenuity, is a game that can be played using your interactive whiteboard or by students using individual devices. Students select nature-inspired equipment enhancements that will help them with their assigned mission. Teacher’s materials include an Introduction to Biomimicry slide presentation to be used before introducing the game.

The following kid-friendly videos may be helpful in teaching about biomimicry: