#ib535

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Final Synthesis

As I was deciding on how to write my final synthesis, I noticed that the criteria for this section mentions making it useful for future use, so instead of writing it in paragraph form, I benefit from lists. Below is a list of everything I found important and noteworthy from this class, there were so many awesome things, I hope I remembered to include them all.

Future information and lessons I want to reference and remember:

Incorporate more photosynthesis into the unit in my classroom. Have students research the benefit of photosynthesis, and it's inspiration for technology. Such as solar panels, proficient harnessing of energy, closed loop system, and harnessing the suns energy at night.

Have my biology students create their own photosynthesis bioinspired invention. Even if it is not possible with today's technology.

Bioinspiration vs. biomimicry: life is so complex, so are biological systems. It is not possible for humans to mimic nature exactly, because of all of the complex parts. Instead ideas and inventions need to be simply and rely on one idea, not all.

Go out and be inspired by nature, urge your students to be the same. Research taking a short field trip to the forest preserve by my high school and have the students do the same that we did in class. Write down questions, observations, things you want to know. Show students how you do not need to be an engineer or an artist to be inspired or creative

It's amazing how there are so many biological materials that can be substituted for synthetic ones. Science has created many awesome synthetic materials, but they can have a harmful effect on the environment, utilizing natural biological materials should be emphasized. Don't forget research more about Ashby Plots! (use as an AP bio project?)

There is so much we can learn from insects as far as robot creation. Even just the one robot I researched could become a more efficient inhaler or fire extinguisher. Explain to students the benefits of studying nature, using the robot examples like Dash, robobee, Bigdog, etc.

Research incorporating more sense information into my biology unit, there are so many complex and amazing ones, other than what students know about their own. Refer back to the design your own robot units for help.

Research closed loop systems that are being utilized by people in their homes, and how you can incorporate more of them into your first house, or future homes. Especially water conservation.

Don't forget to tell your students about the Seawater Greenhouse, and create a lesson plan revolved around it, where students research it's process, and research a place in the world they believe can benefit from one of these greenhouses. This was my favorite thing to learn and research the entire semester!

Flocking is so cool! Take time to watch bird migration and movement when you are outside. Look into incorporating the simulation into the AP Bio class unit. Students love to play video games, and the other units currently used in the class, this could be a beneficial one to use.

Visit a bioinspired architectural building one day! Research if there are any in downtown Chicago, maybe create a fieldtrip and have students visit it for a project?

Use the Biology to Engineering thesaurus to help students better understand biology terms, by relating them to engineering ones, sometimes this can help the students relate better, since they are reading the system from another angle!

Continue to observe nature for your own inspirations!!!

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PBIA Design

I organized this PBIA to follow the course throughout the weeks chronologically. Starting with week 1 at the bottom, all the way to week 8 at the top. For each week, I included the discussion project, vocabulary, reading I found interesting, and a synopsis of the lesson and how I reacted to this weeks topics. At the bottom of each post I added hashtags to organize the information by keywords, such as what week it should be included in, the main point of the post, and if it was a lesson, reading, vocab, etc. At the bottom of each discussion I added what I learned from it, and what I will do with the information in the future. For the readings, I summarized why it was helpful and most interesting underneath the description. In each lesson review, I added the dates of questions I came up with during that unit, to mark my progression through the course.

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My Vision for the Future

I have learned so much from this course, especially about bioinspiration. My vision for the future would to see more of these ideas and designs incorporated into the world around me. For example, I would love to see the Seawater Greenhouse be incorporated into every area that struggles growing food and finding freshwater. Right now California is having a severe drought. This technology can be used to water the crops and food being grown there. I have learned that nature is not easy to replicate. Because science and the biological systems we study are so complex, it is best to keep bioinspiration ideas simple, do not replicate everything about the idea, just one main good one. I want to incorporate a lot of the ideas learned in these 8 units into my biology classroom this year. First, I would like to introduce my students to bioinspiration and biomimicry. I will admit that I even as a biology teacher did not know too much about this topic before the class. Showing students how so many amazing good inventions and ideas can come from nature, will hopefully inspire them to look at nature differently, like I do now. I ask more questions, what is the purpose of that system? Why is it constructed like that? etc. Second I would like to incorporate more clean energy ideas into my classroom and have my students create a presentation discussing a specific type of clean energy. I will explain to my students the harm of our current human systems, and why a closed loop system is better than a linear one, like we use now.

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How I Have Changed Throughout IB 535

I have changed so much from this course. The first thing I learned was that bioinspiration and biomimicry is not the same. Although something is inspired by nature, like a solar panel is from photosynthesis, does not mean it completely mimics nature. Plants use chloroplasts to absorb energy from the sun, where we create solar panels, that use different chemicals and technology to absorb the energy. That is not biomimicry but bioinspiration. I have also changed by wanting to add more alternative energy sources into my life. During the energy unit, I began researching new ways to save and reduce my dependency on running water. There are so many great ways to conserve water, and one of them is collecting rain water to use for watering plants and the lawn. I plan on building a rain water collection device out of a couple sealed garbage cans, and a pipe that runs from my gutters, then at the bottom of the garbage can, I will have a hose attached that I can use to water my plants. Also I would like to research energy saving windows that reduce the amount of heat absorbed from the sun, and brought into my house. Another interesting thing I learned was about some home that filter their air through tunneling underground, that cools the air in the summer, and heats the air in the winter. I would like to research this idea in the future, to see what I can incorporate into my home. Obviously some of the ideas we learned in the course are far from being available to the public in the near future, but I would like to do what I can to have a  less negative impact on this Earth, and start using closed loop systems.

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AskNature is the world's first digital library of Nature's solutions, organized by function, that can serve as an educational and cross-pollinating tool as well as a collaboration forum among biologists, engineers, designers and other innovators.

The best reference for my IB535 course. For every project, lesson, vocab I start with this website. It gives short background information about the biological system, while giving ideas of bioinspiration about the system.