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Life Science · Nature-Inspired Design

Biomimicry: Design Like Plants & Animals

Notice how plant and animal structures do useful jobs. Then use one useful job to build and test a simple solution.

Lesson plan

Biomimicry: Design Like Plants & Animals

A step-by-step guide to help you teach this lesson.

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Lesson overview

What students will learn

  • Identify a useful job done by an external plant or animal structure.
  • Choose a plant or animal idea that could help solve a simple human problem.

Key science ideas

  • Plant and animal structures have shapes that help living things survive, grow, move, or meet their needs.
  • A design can copy a useful job from a plant or animal without looking exactly like the living thing.
  • Different ideas from plants and animals fit different human problems.

Lesson at a glance

  • Grade 1
  • 38 min
  • ~10 min prep
  • 1-LS1-1
  • 7 materials

What’s included

  • Lesson Plan
  • Investigation
  • Teacher Slides
  • Printable Worksheet
  • Teacher Answer Key
  • Interactive Activity
  • Vocabulary