Nature Inspired Design

Bring nature into the classroom & change your students' perception of the natural world (DT & Science, KS2-3)

• Curriculum links

  Key Stage 2

  • Year 6 – Evolution and Inheritance: identify how animals and plants have adapted to suit their environment in different ways, and that adaptation may lead to evolution

  Key Stage 3

  • Design Technology: use a variety of approaches (for example, biomimicry and user centred design) to generate creative ideas and avoid stereotypical responses
  • Science – Relationships in an Ecosystem: the interdependence of organisms, food webs and pollinated crops
  • Science – Plant Reproduction: how organisms are affected by their environment
  • Science – Evolution and Inheritance: how animals and plants adapt to suit their environment
• Objectives and outcomes
  • I can understand what biomimicry is and how it is used in technology to inspire ideas
  • I can connect biomimicry concepts to my observation of plants and animals
  • I have explored how design solutions can be learned from nature
  • I have worked collaboratively to find nature’s solutions to a human challenge
  • I have grown in confidence in thinking critically and being able to give and receive feedback
• Creative habit: Being collaborative

  Collaboration is an essential part of working creatively and an important life skill that helps us harness the best learning.

  By working together in this learning sequence, pupils explore what it is possible to achieve when being accountable to each other’s skills sets and contributions.

  Pupil confidence is built through peer feedback as they contribute to the ideas of others and improve their own.