Biomimicry Excursion

BIOMIMICRY EXCURSION TO THE ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS - High Abilities and Student Excellence Program

On Tuesday the 20th of August, students from Taylors Lakes Secondary College travelled to the Royal Botanical Gardens to participate in the STEM program that allowed them to explore the potential of nature and its ability to provide technological inspiration. Our students were excellent ambassadors for our College. 

Biomimicry Botanical Gardens On Tuesday, September 20th, students of TLSC were not ready to experience what was about to come, for it was something new. Exciting. Beautiful. This was an adventure that shows the beauty of our planet, what we can learn from it, and how we came to be. It will make you wonder, are we significant in this vast world, should I say, universe? I welcome you to the Botanical Gardens. It was a dark morning during an average Tuesday when High Ability students were called to the mound. 2 teachers awaited us there, Miss Catania and Miss Tonna.  After pondering for 20 minutes, we set out to buses – we were going to the Botanical Gardens. That wasn’t the only thing though, we had to study something called “Biomimicry.” You may be asking, what is Biomimicry? Biomimicry is the study of finding things in nature, in which that can be anything, animals, trees, plants, you name it, to add elements to our own human designs. For example, when the Japanese bullet train was built, due to the build up of wind, it would create a sonic boom when exiting tunnels. This was due to its straight tip, and as researchers ran to find a solution to this, one of them was examining how a Kingfisher dives into water so perfectly and clean, when he came up with a solution to the Bullet train problem. A curved tip! That’s Biomimicry. Taking nature to fix our problems. The bus ride was a short 45 minute drive into the city, when we had finally landed. After thanking the bus driver, we were welcome to nothing short of beauty. Massive trees, vines and fountains welcome us, as it seemed foliage and greenery enclosed our whole view. After a short walk, we met our tour guide, who gave us directions to meet her as she needed to do something. Long story short, we forgot the directions and got completely lost in what seemed like Jurassic Park, but after 15 minutes we finally found where we were meant to go. Though we got lost, it had to of been my favourite part of the trip. There was no guide to it, no ending, it was just walking endlessly through the jungle. There were massive, massive trees, and different plants many of us have never seen before. Leaves fell on all of our heads as the smell of fresh air surrounded us. It was simply amazing. Something not capable of words. When we found our location, we spoke a bit about the gardens as we ate our snack. 

Our tour guide came over and introduced us to everything, before doing meditation to find peace and get closer to nature. We spoke about Biomimicry and what it was before finding different things in the wild and using that for design ideas. We put things under microscopes, looked wide for ideas, and looked low to see how bugs live the way they do. We then had to create groups as our guide gave us cards. We had to look around for different things the cards said to look for, and also to see how different plants work. For example, if a card said “Nutrients” we had to look for trees producing nutrients visibly, and also look for trees that looked like the one in a sample photo above the word. Later on, we had some lunch and went back to the gardens. We went through this amazing jungle area where light was barely visible. Trees were everywhere, and rivers went under bridges. The rain that belted down made it all the more beautiful. 

Our guide pointed out different plants to look at that we will need to use later, as we were creating a design using biomimicry. We looked at cactuses, Pines, really, really big trees, as well as even walking by a volcano!! After an amazing view of the city with a pretty big grassy hill opening, we stopped in a hut and went back into our old groups. We used the different plants we looked at to create a design. My group made a little Robovac cleaner for burned down houses with a fireproof shell and covering made from fireproof sap. This sap came from a rare cactus. Different groups made different ideas. A rug that would protect houses, weapons, planes! It was all insane. After a quick pic in front of the city, we left the beautiful gardens with one last goodbye. Another short ride back to the school all left us amazed, as we all couldn’t help but think how beautiful it was.27 people came, with many enjoying it. I found it fun to interact with different people, but just to be at this event was outstanding. It was stunning, and I know a lot of my mates there would say the same thing. We for sure learned a lot, and I highly recommend people to go if they can. The earth truly is something spectacular. 

Brodie Ibrahim Year 7

On the botanical garden's excursion, we developed critical thinking skills by trying to incorporate nature into our designs for an object that could benefit humans. We also got to appreciate nature and sink it all in when we were walking. Overall, it was a good experience that increased our knowledge of nature and how we could use it for our own inventions.

Liam Muscat Year 7

A big thank you to Ms Tonna and Ms Edgar for volunteering to take our students in this fabulous program.

Elizabeth Green,

Program Leader of High Abilities and Student Excellence