Lesson 14
Technology, Tools, and the Engineering Process
Students learn what technology really means, explore how some animals use and even pass down tools, discover the engineering design process, and encounter the concept of biomimicry.

Key Ideas
  • TECHNOLOGY means every single step involved in making something, from finding the raw materials all the way to the finished product. It is not just the object. It is the whole process.
  • All human-made things start as raw materials from nature: metals from ores, plastic from oil, glass from sand, paper from wood. Humans make nothing from nothing.
  • Some animals genuinely use tools, and scientists have documented it. Chimpanzees select and trim sticks to fish termites from mounds. Crows drop nuts onto roads for cars to crack open. Sea otters carry a favorite rock to break open shellfish. In some species, the behavior appears to be passed down, not just instinct.
  • Most animal behavior is instinct: it is the same across the species, does not change, and is not consciously improved. Human technology involves conscious design, testing, and deliberate improvement. The engineering design process follows five steps: notice a problem, think of a solution, try it, look at the results, and improve based on what you learned.
  • BIOMIMICRY means learning from nature to solve human engineering problems. Velcro was invented after an engineer studied burdock burrs under a microscope. The Shinkansen bullet train's nose was redesigned after engineers studied the kingfisher's beak. Shark skin inspired drag-reducing swimsuits.
  • Your body transforms simple raw materials (food, water, air) into bone, muscle, tissue, energy, and immune cells, automatically and continuously. No human technology comes close to replicating this.

Sources


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L14: Technology, Tools, and Animals by Selene
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