Activity | CoDesign Collaborative

We Design Redesign

sophiarichardson — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 18:48:54 +0000

We Design Redesign

Virtual Classroom (9-12 Grade)

Learners will be able to identify with the role of a designer and understand the ways in which the design process is already integrated into their own methods of problem-solving.

Learners will…

Identify the different design fields
Connect with a designer’s story and process
Recall integral steps of the design process

We Design is an exhibition designed to explore careers in creative industries features designers of many backgrounds.

Enter the Exhibition

HOW TO USE THIS LESSON

This lesson is part of our Virtual Classroom offerings. Below you’ll find embedded previews of the lesson resources so you can review them before deciding to add them to your own Google Drive. When ready, click any of the “Make a Copy” headings and the resource will be copied into your Google Drive. This copy will not affect the original files—so feel free to edit and adapt them to your classroom needs!

Through this activity and their exploration of the We Design exhibition, students will form a personal connection with the work of a designer and better understand the breadth of the design industry. Working in groups, students will gather a collective understanding of the different forms that design takes while becoming well acquainted with the design process (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test): first by examining another’s designer’s story and next, by designing their own prototype of the designer’s product. Ultimately, students will be able to identify with the role of a designer; realizing the ways in which the design process is already integrated into their own methods of problem-solving.

NATIONAL STANDARDS

11-12.ELA.W.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

HS.ETS.1.5 Plan a prototype or design solution using orthographic projections and isometric drawings, using proper scales and proportions.

HS.ETS.1.2 Break a complex real-world problem into smaller, more manageable problems that each can be solved using scientific and engineering principles.

EDUCATOR’S GUIDE · SAVE A COPY

The Educator’s Guide for We Design Redesign outlines the lesson in full, including background information for educator’s less familiar with the design field as a whole.

SLIDE DECK · SAVE A COPY

The slide deck is a Google Slides presentation for the lesson. It was devised for synchronous instruction, but can easily be adapted for an asynchronous project.

FORM: FIND A DESIGNER · SAVE A COPY

The “Find a Designer” form guides students through researching a particular designer using the We Design Online Exhibition as the main resource.

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FORM: REDESIGN · SAVE A COPY

The “Redesign” form guides students through redesigning a project from their chosen designer and a set of questions meant to prepare them for short presentations.

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Bespoke Bodies Coloring Pages

Hannah Kennedy — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 15:34:59 +0000

Bespoke Bodies Coloring Pages

Design Activity (Ages 5+)

Learners will explore texture and color while decorating the drawings of Derby and Grecia.

Learners will…

Learn and use new vocabulary — texture & color.
Identify and describe various textures while noticing their similarities and differences.
Explore different textures in their surroundings.
Learn about Derby and Grecia from Bespoke Bodies: The Design and Craft of Prosthetics exhibition.

Share your coloring pages on social media with #DesignTogether and we’ll feature examples in our Design Together online gallery.

MATERIALS TO GATHER

Coloring Book Pages.

Art supplies such as paint, glue, crayons, or markers.

Textured objects around the home (at guardian’s discretion) to add texture and color to the provided coloring book pages.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Collect objects from around your home with various textures.

2. Gather art supplies found around your home such as glue, paint, crayons, markers, highlighters, etc.

3. Use the textured objects and the art supplies to add texture and color to the provided coloring book pages.

ACTIVITY QUESTIONS

What objects around your home have texture?

Can you describe the texture?

Does it remind you of anything you’ve felt before?

Download a printable version of the entire activity.

Lesson Overview

Meet Derby the Dog & Grecia the Toucan! Both use 3D-printed prostheses created by 3D Systems & are featured in our Bespoke Bodies exhibition. Collect textured items from your surroundings to color & decorate the drawings of Derby & Grecia.

Learn More

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Origami Hearts Garland

sarah — Wed, 17 May 2023 18:15:02 +0000

Origami Hearts Garland

Design Activity (Ages 5+)

Learners will make an origami heart garland while exploring their emotions.

Learners will…

Work through the creative process while learning something new
Develop fine motor skills
Understand how to communicate with empathy and explore their feelings

Share your garland on social media with #DesignTogether and we’ll feature examples in our Design Together online gallery.

MATERIALS TO GATHER

5+ Sheets of 3”x 3” paper.

Tape

3+ Feet of string or ribbon.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Fold your paper in half on the diagonal.

2. Reopen your paper, fold it in half again from top
to bottom, making a cross-shaped crease.

3. Hold your paper with a point up, then fold the
top point down to the center crease.

4. Fold the bottom point to meet the top.

5. Fold the right side to meet the middle crease.

6. Fold the left side to meet the center crease.

7. Flip it over to see the beginning of your heart!

8. Fold the left and right outer corners in.

9. Fold the top points down.

10. You made a heart!

11. Place your hearts on the string.
12. Tape the folded points of your hearts to the string.
13. Hang your beautiful garland!

ACTIVITY QUESTIONS

Name as many feelings as you can.
What does a heart symbolize to you?

How can you show empathy when your friend
or sibling is feeling sad or frustrated?

You’ve completed your project garland!
Share how it feels with your family or friend.
Ask how they feel!

Download a printable version of the entire activity.

This project was designed by Zara Woodhead, a teacher of Elementary Visual Arts in Boston, and supported by the CoDesign Collaborative Education Fund.

Learn More

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Orthographic Projection

sophiarichardson — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 19:17:26 +0000

Orthographic Projection

Design Activity (4-12 Grade)

Learners will learn the concept of orthographic projections and how to draw them.

Learners will…

Learn the concept and mechanics of orthographic projections
Understand how to draw an orthographic projection of a 3D object
Translate 3D objects to 2D views

Share your orthographic drawings on social media with #DesignTogether and we’ll feature examples in our Design Together online gallery.

INSTRUCTIONS

Begin by introducing the concept of orthographic projections to your learner. Start with an example—you can use the one in the background—before moving into the definition. Ask your learner: why do we need orthographic drawings (multi-views) in addition to a 3D drawing of an object? What does an orthographic drawing show that a 3D drawing does not?
Discuss with your learner how to make an orthographic drawing. Make sure to introduce the top, front, and right side views, and show them a simple example drawing such as the one in the background. Have your learner physically look at the object from different views—look at the object from above, from the right, and from the front.
Sample Questions: How do you think the top, front, and right side views relate to each other? What is each view showing? How would you draw this?
Once your learner is comfortable with the idea of orthographic drawings, it’s time to start drawing! Choose a solid, simple, geometric object for their very first drawing.
Suggestions: a book, a block of soap, solid toy building blocks.
When your learner is finished drawing, have them show you the drawing and talk you through how they drew it. Ask your learner: what would they do if the object was hollow inside? How would they draw that? Introduce the idea of hidden lines to your learner, and how they help show parts of an object that cannot be directly seen.
Sample Questions: Why do you think hidden lines are important? How would we add hidden lines to your drawing, assuming that the object is hollow? What are some objects you can think of that would need hidden lines in their drawings?
After discussing hidden lines with your learner, give them a slightly more challenging object to draw that would require hidden lines.
Suggestions: knife block, toilet paper roll, water bottle.
Challenge: If your learner is up to something more challenging, have them select a more complicated object to draw. Before drawing, have them thoroughly inspect the object, or even take it apart if possible.
Ask Your Learner: How would you draw angles? How can you make sure the top view and front view match? What was drawing this object like, compared to the previous ones?

WHAT IS AN ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION? WHAT ARE THEY USED FOR?

Imagine that you found a table you absolutely love, but it’s not for sale. As a result, you decide to build it yourself. In order to build it as close to the original as possible, you need to take multiple photos of it from different angles: you want a photo from above to make sure you get the table top shape right, a photo from the side to make sure you have the height and width right, etc. Similarly with engineering, architecture, and design, a 3D drawing does not show enough detail—orthographic projections help overcome that problem.

An orthographic projection is a way of representing a 3D object by using several 2D views of the object. Orthographic drawings are also known as multiviews. The most commonly used views are top, front, and right side. You can imagine it as positioning yourself directly in front, above, or to the right of an object and drawing only what you can see.

LINES

What happens when you need to show something that can’t be seen? For example, if you had a hollow box, how would you show in your drawings that the box is hollow?

Engineers and designers use hidden lines to show parts of an object that can’t be seen directly in a specific view. Hidden lines are characterized as dashed lines (rather than solid). Look at the orthographic drawing of a dollhouse couch below: where are hidden lines being used, and what parts of the couch are they showing?

In this case, the hidden lines show the outline of the couch cushion, making clear that the space directly behind the arm rest portion is just air. Hidden lines allow for more clarity, and make it easier to envision the depth, height, or angles of different parts of an object.

TIPS

Make sure the length and width of everything in your views match! For example, if you are making an orthographic drawing of an armchair, you want the width of and between the armrests to match in both the top and front views. You can sketch guiding lines between the views to help do this.
Before you draw any detail, sketch boxes for each view first (making sure that they match properly in height, width, and depth). Then “carve” the box to include the details of the object you are drawing.
If you would draw a line to represent an angle or feature on the 3D version of the object you are sketching, then you should do the same for the orthographic view.

Download a printable version of the entire activity.

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Empathy: Interviews

sophiarichardson — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 17:11:59 +0000

Empathy: Interviews

Design Activity (4-12 Grade)

Learners will come up with an interview plan and conduct an interview.

Learners will…

Formulate interview goals and open-ended questions
Lead and conduct an interview
Understand how to practice empathy when conducting research

Share your interview plans on social media with #DesignTogether and we’ll feature examples in our Design Together online gallery.

INSTRUCTIONS

Before starting, gather a few materials to have your interview. You will need pen, paper, or a recording device.
Begin by discussing what empathy interviews are, and why they’re important (see background).
Sample Questions: What is an interview? What do you think an empathy interview is? How might you empathize with your interviewee?
Create an interview plan with your learner by first choosing a topic. Some suggestions are: grocery shopping, online learning, listening to music.
Once a subject has been chosen, think about interview goals: what does your learner want to know as a result of the interview? For example, if your subject is grocery shopping, one goal might be to see how people decide on the items they buy.
Now that you have a subject and goals, it’s time to come up with a question guide! Before writing any questions, talk with your learner about how to write questions for an empathy interview (see empathy interview tips).
Sample Questions: What is an open-ended question, and why are they important for empathy interviews? What are some things you can do in the interview to encourage your interviewee to tell a story and learn more about them? What are some things that might make it difficult for your interviewee to tell you about themself, and how can you make sure to avoid them?
Have your learner write at least five questions for their interview, keeping their subject and goals in mind. Remind them that this is a guide, and they can ask additional questions during the interview if needed.
Once your learner has finished writing questions, encourage them to go through the questions once more to look for ones that might be restrictive or not open-ended, and edit them.
Once your learner feels ready to interview, have them find an interviewee and (if possible) a notetaker. If having a notetaker is not possible, your learner can choose to either take the notes themself or use a recording device.
Have your learner conduct the interview! When they are done, discuss the results with them. What new things did they learn about the interview subject/interviewee? Have any of their thoughts or views changed, and how? What did they want to know more about as a result of the interview? How did they feel conducting the interview, and how might they improve their questions/plan/goals for another one?
For older students: Have them conduct at least four more interviews, and then compare the notes from all five interviews. Is there anything they see mentioned multiple times? What are some major themes that are seen across all five interviews?

WHAT ARE EMPATHY INTERVIEWS?

Empathy is the practice of seeking to understand and make connections with all types of people. Interviewing for empathy means prompting and listening to a person’s stories in order to get to know their thoughts, feelings, and motivations on a specific subject. Empathy interviews are important in understanding a person’s behavior and choices so that you can learn about their needs and wants and design to incorporate them. There are usually three roles in an interview—the interviewer who asks the questions, the interviewee who answers them, and the notetaker who writes down everything that happens. The notetaker ensures that the interviewer can have their full attention on the interviewee. However, if there’s no notetaker, then interviewers can either record the interview or take the notes themselves.

EMPATHY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Ask open ended questions. Use questions that will encourage a story from the interviewee rather than a yes or no answer. For example, “Tell me about a time when…” or “Show me how…”.

Avoid “leading questions”, or questions that use language that will influence the interviewee to answer in a certain way (ex. “normally”, “obviously”, “you know”).

Always try to probe deeper. For example, if a person says “I really love fish” ask “Why?”

Make sure your interviewee is comfortable! This can be anything from checking in regularly throughout the interview, to choosing a cozy environment. Always ask permission before doing things that might invade their privacy, such as taking videos or recordings or asking personal questions. In addition, make sure to introduce yourself and the project at the start of the interview so your interviewee is aware of what is going on.

Reserve personal opinions and judgments. Try to keep an open mind, and focus on listening to what the other person has to say. If you don’t understand what they’re saying, ask them to explain it in more detail.

Download a printable version of the entire activity.

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Home Floor Plan

sophiarichardson — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 20:51:34 +0000

Home Floor Plan

Design Activity (4-8 Grade)

Learners will observe their living space and create a floor plan of their home.

Learners will…

Observe their living space
Understand how to translate observations of a 3D space into 2D floor plans
Create a floor plan of their observed space

Share your draft floor plans on social media with #DesignTogether and we’ll feature examples in our Design Together online gallery.

INSTRUCTIONS

Before starting, gather some materials. You will need paper (graph paper, if you have any), pencil, ruler or hard edge (optional), and a tape measure (optional).
Begin by discussing what floor plans are (see background for definition).
Sample Questions: What do you think floor plans are used for? Why might floor plans show the above view instead of a different view?
Look over the floor plan examples provided. Ask your learner what they notice about the floor plans—How are different building features like walls, windows, and doors shown? What do the different symbols mean?
Once they feel comfortable with the general structure of a floor plan, have your learner choose a room in your home to observe. Ask your learner to walk around and observe that room, making note of where walls, windows, and doors are placed, as well as their sizes—are there certain walls or windows that are longer than others? Where are they?
Encourage your learner to record their observations by writing notes and making sketches.
After they have finished observing, challenge your learner to draw a free-hand sketch of the floor plan of the room they just observed. Allow them to move around and make more observations as they draw.
Extra Challenge: Add furniture and labels to the room.
For older students: After the initial sketch, have them draw the sketch, have them use the tape measure to measure the dimensions of the room and locations of doors and windows. Ask them to write the measurements down on the sketch. Then help your learner convert the measurements to a smaller scale. The simplest way would be to do a “1 foot equals 1 cm” scale, ex. a 20 foot long wall would be 20 cm. However, feel free to play around with different ratios and metrics.
Note: If you don’t have a tape measure, your learner can measure with steps (ex., count how many steps it takes to cross the room).
Once everything has been converted, challenge your learner to draw the newly scaled drawing using a ruler. If you don’t have a ruler, you can print out a paper ruler or have your learner use their fingers. For example, 3 steps is equal to the width of 3 fingers.
Discuss the end results together.
Sample Questions: What was difficult? What new things did you learn or notice about the room?
Once they are satisfied with the room floor plan, challenge them to draw the floor plan for the rest of the home!

WHAT’S A FLOORPLAN?

A floor plan is a scaled diagram of a building or room shown from above. It shows the placement of rooms, doors, windows, walls, and other building features as needed. They can be drawn by hand, or made using software, Older students can explore free online floor plan tools such as Autodesk Homestyler and RoomSketcher.

Floor plans are helpful for understanding the layout of a space, including placing furniture, planning appliances, and showing living spaces to prospective buyers or renters.

Note: Floor plans use different symbols to signify different building features such as windows and doors. The symbols may vary slightly across designers, but must stay consistent within a single floor plan.

View floor plan examples in our downloadable PDF.

SUGGESTED FLOOR PLAN SYMBOLS

The purpose of a draft stopper is to stop the flow of air into or out of a space where it is unwanted. You can make them out of almost anything, but the next three pages have examples of a few and instructions on how to make them!

Download a printable version of the entire activity.

Download our printable ruler.

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Sustainability: Draft Finder

sophiarichardson — Tue, 05 May 2020 14:38:36 +0000

Sustainability: Draft Finder

Design Activity (4-8 Grade)

Learners will improve the energy efficiency in their homes by creating a draft meter and draft stopper.

Learners will…

Create an instrument to measure drafts in their homes
Measure the drafts in their homes
Design a draft stopper and test its efficacy

Did it work? Share your draft stoppers on social media with #DesignTogether and we’ll feature examples in our Design Together online gallery.

INSTRUCTIONS

Before starting, gather a few materials to make your draft meter. You will need a pencil, tape, and plastic wrap. Alternatively, if your household does not use plastic wrap, use parchment paper or a thin linen cloth like cheesecloth.
Introduce the idea of drafts to your learner.
Guiding Questions: Have you ever felt cold air come through a closed window or door? How about during the summer when you’re outside? Why do you think that happens?
Ask your learner to think about how your heating or cooling system reacts to cold air entering or escaping. Older learners can be guided to think about how that affects the energy used in your home.
Guiding Questions: What do you think the heater does when cold air comes into the house? Does the heating system require more energy to make the room warm when cold air comes in? Do you think we can save that energy somehow?
The challenge is for your learner to identify drafts in their home and try to stop the drafts to save energy. In order to accomplish this, they’ll need to build a draft meter. Professional draft meters exist, but they will build their own.
Instruct your learner to cut a piece of plastic wrap to roughly 5”x10” and attach the short end to their pencil using tape so that the plastic wrap flows freely beneath it.
Equipped with their new draft meter, challenge your learner to find the strongest draft in your home. Remind them to check places other than windows and doors for drafts.
Older students can assign numbers to their draft findings and record them on a sheet of paper.
Once they’ve identified the strongest draft in their home, assist your learner in creating a draft stopper and place it in the drafty spot. (See below for instructions).
Finally, have them re-test the area for drafts using their draft meter.

BACKGROUND

Drafts happen where there is space for air to travel where we don’t want it to. For example, a window whose frame has changed with the weather will have gaps that allow for cold air to flow inside during the winter and air conditioned air to flow out during the summer. This lack of barrier between inside and outside air forces heating and cooling systems to work harder than they have to in order to keep homes at the right temperature.

Ultimately, this is a sustainability issue because the heating and cooling systems are wasting energy that could be solved by blocking the draft.

CREATING A DRAFT STOPPER

Dry Goods Stopper (Best for Windows)

Ingredients

Dry goods (rice, beans, walnut shells, etc.)
A fabric covering (pillow case, old sheets, old blue jeans, knee high socks, etc)
Scissors
Sewing kit/Fabric Glue/Stapler

Grab your fabric and cut the length to the measurement of the window and the width to around 4 inches.
Sew, glue, or staple one short end and both long ends shut.
Stuff the fabric with your dry goods until full. The point is to leave very little space for the wind to flow through.
Sew, glue, or staple the last short side closed
Place on the inside of your window!

A Pool Noodle/Foam Stopper (Best for Doors)

Ingredients

Pool noodle or other cylindrical foam
A fabric covering (old sheets, blue jeans, etc.)
Scissors
Sewing kit/Fabric glue/Stapler

Grab your foam and cut it to the width of the door, then depending on the thickness of your foam either cut a second a piece of foam to the same length or slice your foam in half longways.
Grab your fabric and cut the length to the measurement of the door width plus the height of your foam. For the width measure the thickness of your door and add it to twice the width of your foam. This way the fabric will fold around the foam and still leave room for the door between them.
Sew, glue, or staple one short end and both long ends shut.
Stuff the fabric with your foam.
Sew, glue, or staple the last short side closed. Optionally, you can also sew your foam pieces in place so they don’t move around when they’re not under the door.
Slide under your door!

A Cat Litter Draft Stopper (Most Versatile)

Ingredients

Cat Litter
A fabric covering (pillow case, old sheets, old blue jeans, knee high socks, etc)
Scissors
Sewing kit/ Fabric glue/ Stapler

Grab your fabric and cut the length to the measurement of the window/door and the width to around 4 inches.
Sew, glue, or staple one short end and both long ends shut.
Stuff the fabric with your litter until full. The point is to leave very little space for the wind to flow through.
Sew, glue, or staple the last short side closed.
Place on the inside of your window or lean against the bottom of your door!

Download a printable version of the entire activity.

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Building Blocks: Measurement Madness

sophiarichardson — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 14:28:41 +0000

Building Blocks: Measurement Madness

Design Activity (2-5 Grade)

Learners will measure things in their environment and understand scale and proportions.

Learners will…

Measure objects in their environments
Understand how to use a ruler
Estimate measurements using their bodies

Share your favorite measurement findings on social media with #DesignTogether and we’ll feature examples in our Design Together online gallery.

INSTRUCTIONS

Before starting, gather some starting materials: a ruler (click here to download a 6 inch printable ruler), a piece of paper, a pencil, and a writing surface (clipboard, book, folder, etc.).
If your learner has never used a ruler, walk them through how to measure something. Be sure to remind them what side of the ruler they should begin measuring from. Feel free to mark the starting side with a colored marker or pen.
Guiding questions: How do we know how long something is? Looking at this ruler, what side of the ruler do you think we start measuring from? Why? How would you measure something that’s longer than the ruler?
Provide your learner with their first object to measure. Choose something flat with clean edges like a book or magazine. Ask your learner to measure the length of the object and record their answer on a piece of paper. Encourage your learner to measure in both inches and centimeters.
Once they are comfortable with how to use the ruler and record their findings, the challenge can begin! Challenge your learner to find items in their environment that they can measure in one inch increments.
For example: find an item that is one inch, two inches, three inches, four inches, etc to the length of their rulers
Once they’ve collected their measurements, have your learners measure the same items in centimeters to explore the relationship between the two. Older learners can be guided into thinking about the ratio between the two.
Now that they can measure smaller objects with a ruler, ask your learner to measure a part of their body they can easily use to measure other items, like a hand, foot, or forearm. Once they know the measurement, ask them to guesstimate the size of larger things around their environments, like chair heights, bookcases, beds, etc, using their new tool.

Download a printable version of the entire activity.

Download our printable ruler.

The post Building Blocks: Measurement Madness appeared first on CoDesign Collaborative.

Empathy: Journey Mapping

sophiarichardson — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 19:49:23 +0000

Empathy: Journey Mapping

Design Activity (4-12 Grade)

Learners will create a journey map of a partner’s day.

Learners will…

Make observations of people from their lives
Identify and compare patterns from their observations
Understand how journey maps help designers find design opportunities

Share your maps on social media with #DesignTogether and we’ll feature examples in our Design Together online gallery.

INSTRUCTIONS

Begin by discussing what Journey Maps are (see below or download our PDF for more information). Ask your learner to choose one task or goal they can shadow someone else tackle.
Examples: Laundry process, making a meal, completing a homework assignment, planning a celebration, redecorating a room.
Discuss the ways that they can observe without interfering in the process.
Sample Questions: Do you like to be watched when you do things around the house? What are some things you could do while watching that would change the way someone usually finishes a task? Why don’t we want to interfere with what our subjects are doing?
Challenge your learner to list all the ways they can observe and record their subject’s journey without being distracting.
Examples: Taking notes of what they say, taking photographs of what they do, drawing facial expressions, asking for materials once the goal is achieved.
Once they understand the scope of their observation, encourage your learner to introduce the project to the subject they will be observing. Remind them that being observed can be nerve-wracking so it’s important that they make their subject feel comfortable.
Your learner’s challenge is to document their subject’s journey to accomplishing their goal as accurately as possible. If possible, your learner can observe the journey several times before continuing.
After the goal is completed, your learner will need to organize all their findings in a journey map. Feel free to use our template or have your learner create their own! They can accomplish this by splitting their observations into three categories:
Body: What did their subject do?
Heart: How did your subject feel while they were doing that?
Brain: What questions, thoughts, or information did your subject need to move forward?
Finally, have learners identify opportunities for design.
Guiding Questions: Did the subject say they were frustrated at a certain point in the process? What kind of questions did you subject ask themselves or others during the process? Did you see your subject struggle to complete any portion of their goal?

ABOUT JOURNEY MAPS

A Journey Map is a visual representation of the steps someone takes to achieve a goal. Journey maps can be used to better understand how someone approaches a task or solves a problem. They are useful in the research or empathy stage of the design process. They can also be used in the testing stage as a way to trace how people are making use of a product or design solution.

You can find download our journey map template here and see a filled in example here.

Download a printable version of the entire activity.

Download our Journey Mapping Template.

See a filled in version of our Journey Mapping Template.

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Biomimicry: Materials

sophiarichardson — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 19:24:52 +0000

Biomimicry: Materials

Design Activity (8-12 Grade)

Learners will create an object using the concepts of biomimicry.

Learners will…

Research how nature approaches waterproofing
Identify patterns from their research to ideate for their solution
Create a prototype

Share your creations on social media with #DesignTogether and we’ll feature examples in our Design Together online gallery.

INSTRUCTIONS

Begin by discussing the concept of biomimicry. You can find more info on biomimicry by downloading our PDF or by visiting biomimicry.org.
Sample Questions: What do you think biomimicry is? Can you break down the root words to guess?
Challenge your learner to reverse engineer a few examples. Start by giving them an example of the final solution and ask them to think through what part of nature was used as inspiration.
Once they have a good grasp on the concept, it’s time for their challenge. They will be tasked with creating a waterproof body covering using the concept of biomimicry.
Your learner should first choose what type of covering they’re interested in creating. Examples include: ponchos, jackets, shirts, socks, overalls, hats, etc.
After they have chosen their covering, encourage your learner to begin researching by looking at how nature approaches waterproofing. Let them know that they should only be focusing on biological examples and not looking towards currently manufactured products.
Sample Guiding Questions: What animals need to be waterproof? How do plants not get weighed down in the rain? Are there any insects that can dive into pools of water? What are some animals we know get soaked in the rain and why?
Encourage your learner to focus on the materials they would need to design and use in this, not necessarily just the shape or form of their design.
With their research notes in mind, challenge your learner to come up with as many ideas as they can in 20 minutes for the material they would use. Ask them to focus on characteristics of the materials and to connect their characteristics to a research point.
Example: Thinking of how ducks cover their feathers in oil to stay waterproofed, the fabric could be infused with some kind of oil.
After they have thought of as many ideas as possible, it’s time to prototype. Encourage your learner to sketch or work through a physical prototype.
Example: drawing a scaled fabric that allows for quick water run-off or brushing coconut oil on a piece of cotton fabric to see if it helps repel water.

Download a printable version of the entire activity.

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