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.

Vocabulary

• Technology: Every step involved in making something, from finding raw materials to the finished product.
• Biomimicry: The study of learning from nature to solve human engineering problems.
• Engineer: A person who uses science and problem-solving to design and build things that meet a need.
• Engineering design: The process of noticing a problem, thinking of a solution, trying it, evaluating results, and improving.
• Raw material: A natural resource that is used as the starting point for making something.
• Instinct: A behavior an animal is born with, not something it learns or plans.

Discussion Questions

• What makes something “technology”? Is a hammer technology, or is the process of making the hammer also technology? Why?
• Can you think of something you used today and trace it back to a natural resource?
• Animals use tools, too. How is a chimpanzee using a stick to get termites similar to a human using a tool? How is it different?
• Why do you think some animals pass tool-using behaviors from one generation to another?
• What is the difference between instinct and engineering? Can an animal behavior change and improve over time?
• Think of a problem you have encountered. How could you use the engineering design process to solve it?
• Why is testing an important part of engineering? What might happen if an engineer never tested their design?
• What is biomimicry? Can you think of something humans could invent by studying an animal, plant, or other part of nature?
• If you could design something by copying nature, what would you study and what problem would you try to solve?
• Your body is constantly building and repairing itself from food, water, and air. What do you think is most amazing about that process? Why do you think humans have such a hard time building technology that can do the same thing?