Biomimicry

Harley students in Grade 5 science began thinking about biomimicry during their unit on ecosystems. In Grade 6, they have five teams who will be entering this year’s challenge, with all their work completed as part of class.

When Middle School students first begin thinking about biomimicry they often gravitate toward biomorphism (“A giraffe’s neck is long, so I’m going to make my design long too.”) and focus on a trait without looking at the function. As they learned to “biologize” the problem they were able to explore the question, “How does nature…?” By thinking, for example, of ways to develop something strong, they began by considering what in nature is strong and why.

Harley School’s maker educator, Kima Enerson, is bringing a design process approach to the Middle School. By starting with a scrum board to track tasks and their progress, the students are learning ways to think about how to manage a project. This also helps students find—and own—aspects of the process. Whether they design using TinkerCad or explore potential materials to use, all the students are involved.

Press coverage of our Middle and Upper School teams—who earned honorable mention and second place nationally in 2019.

Biomimicry teaches children a compelling narrative backed by fascinating natural phenomena which can inspire solutions to human problems as often as the those generated in the traditional manufacturing world. These young scientists are making, observing, questioning, experimenting, ideating, and designing. As the next generation of thinkers grows up, they can adapt these lessons to develop better, more regenerative alternatives to the typical “take, make, and waste” approaches to design.