InNature’s Greek partner, Ellinogermaniki Agogi school, organised the piloting activities of IO2 between April and May 2021.
All activities were embodied in a bigger school project related to “Offshore Wind Farms site-prospecting and Wind Turbine construction and Optimization”. The entire school project lasted 5 hours per classroom and all students were actively participated, especially in the parts where Biomimicry concepts were discussed and tested (i.e., searching for optimal areas based on ant-colonies or optimizing a wind turbine based on the whale wings, the owl wings or the kingfisher nose).
In particular, the activities piloted were:
• Activity A2 (Philosophy of Biomimicry)
• Activity A3 (To be inspired by Nature, for what purposes)
• Activity E2 (In the shoes of a Biomimetician – Ethics and sustainability)
Students’ engagement with the InNature activities had a great positive impact for enhancing their knowledge in Biomimicry concepts applied in real-world problems. Overall, students really enjoyed the Biomimicry activities. The students rated the activities at an average of 4 out of 5 by highlighting that the Biomimicry examples were very inspirational. Most of the students (92%) would like to repeat the activities next year, including more Biomimicry examples on different scientific and research topics. The learning outcomes and the major findings from the activities were promising. Students enjoyed the discussions about Biomimicry concepts, the importance of Biomimicry solutions and Biomimicry ethics.
Moreover, the advantages of working in groups to solve a problem or the inclusion of additional hands-on activities or computer-based applications were highlighted by both students and the teachers. Some of the students’ ideas inspired by nature: Owl eyes and eyeglasses Kingfisher nose and hair accessories Fishtail and ship propeller Hedgehog spikes and car safety Owl wings and shoes noise while walking Leaves and clothing materials Giraffes and crane designs Turtle’s shell and helmets for protection Wind turbines layout and fishes schooling (swimming in groups).
