Hunting and Gathering for Ideas

Create a nature trail with a difference!  This resource describes an outdoor activity which can be used to introduce students to the concept of biomimicry, looking at examples of adaptation.

Students hunt for ways in which evolution has led to a variety of solutions for different biological functions, such as moving liquids, being waterproof, gripping or insulating. 

Each team is given a card with one function written on it and challenged to hunt for the function within a given location.

Janine Benyus, founder of the Biomimicry 3.8 Institute, explains how systematically observing nature and then emulating it can lead to innovative and sustainable technologies and designs. She describes how to conduct a ‘biomimicry field trip’ to hunt for organisms which might carry out a particular function such as balance or grip.

The activity can be extended into a design-related activity by asking students to take the functional strategies they discovered in nature, either through this activity or others, and apply the ideas to a design challenge (for example, designing a house).