This document contains the agenda for a class on biomimetics. It includes discussions of idioms, a quiz on VP8, student presentations on newspaper articles, and a reading on biomimetics. Students will work with partners to summarize paragraphs from the biomimetics text and answer discussion questions about the reading. Homework includes a quiz on Friday about the newspaper presentations using discussion questions from class, completing VP9 worksheets and questions, and printing copies of their group work to submit.

1. Reading 3
IECP
Fall 2013
Nikki Mattson

2. Agenda
* Idiom
* VP 8 quiz
* Newspaper Presentation
* RE 4A text

3. Work together with a partner to create another example sentence. Once you have
finished, write your sentence on the board and practice using the idiom in conversation.

4. Practice
* 1. What is something that you don’t have a clue
about?
* 2. I told my friend to get a clue when….
* 3. Yesterday when I asked my friend___, he/she shook
his/her head and told me to get a clue.

5. VP 8 Quiz

6. Newspaper Presentation

7. Discussion Questions (3A)
*1. What are your sleep patterns like? Do you suffer from any of the sleep inhibitors
mentioned in the article?
*2. What are some of the changes that our bodies and mind experience as we fall asleep
and continue to sleep?
*3. According to the article, how does alcohol consumption affect sleep? Why do some
people drink it to help them sleep?
*4. Which chemicals and hormones are mentioned in the article? What are their functions?
*5. According to the article, how can stress affect sleep? What does the article suggest
that individual’s do when they feel anxious and can’t sleep?
*6. What strategies do you have to promote restful, effective sleep?

8. Discussion Questions (3B)
* 1. If you were in William’s situation, what would you do? Do you think you
would make the same decision that he has made?
* 2. Why do you think William was able to survive when so many other have
not been so fortunate?
* 3. Why might William’s blood be useful in the fight against Ebola?
* 4. What can individuals (regular people like you and me) do to help people in
Africa fight Ebola?
* 5. If Ebola keeps spreading to volunteers and healthcare workers, do you
think we should we stop having healthy individuals treat patients with Ebola?
* 6. If Ebola spreads to State College, what should we do?

10. What is Biomimetics?
Questions 
1)Why does the speaker mention the spider and
beetle examples?
2)How is nature “like a catalog of products”?
3)Why does the speaker mention the
greenhouse building project?
Biomimetic Video

11. pg. 61, line 15 – The thorny devil can also do this when
standing on damp sand – a _______competitive advantage in
the desert.

Colleagues
Vital
Nonetheless
Insight
Riddle
gradually
Device
Gap
Vertical
Reproduce

12. Pg. 61, line 17 – Parker had come to solve the_______of precisely
how it does this…

Colleagues
Vital
Nonetheless
Insight
Riddle
gradually
Device
Gap
Vertical
Reproduce

13. Pg. 61, line 19 - …to make a_______to help people collect water in
  Colleagues
 Vital
 Nonetheless
 Insight
 Riddle
 gradually
 Device
 Gap
 Vertical
 Reproduce
the desert.

14. Pg. 61, line 38 – Parker sent his observations and experimental
results to…two __________.

Colleagues
Vital
Nonetheless
Insight
Riddle
gradually
Device
Gap
Vertical
Reproduce

15. Pg. 61, line 45 – This combination of biological ______ and
engineering pragmatism is vital to success in biomimetics.

Colleagues
Vital
Nonetheless
Insight
Riddle
gradually
Device
Gap
Vertical
Reproduce

16. Pg. 62, line 95 - …Fearing is confident that over time he will close
the ________ between nature and human engineering.

Colleagues
Vital
Nonetheless
Insight
Riddle
gradually
Device
Gap
Vertical
Reproduce

17. pg. 62, line 105 – Cutkosky studied the extremely small structures
on the gecko’s feet that allow it to run up and down ______walls…

Colleagues
Vital
Nonetheless
Insight
Riddle
gradually
Device
Gap
Vertical
Reproduce

18. Pg. 63, line 135 – For the present, engineers cannot hope to _______
it.

Colleagues
Vital
Nonetheless
Insight
Riddle
gradually
Device
Gap
Vertical
Reproduce

19. Pg. 63, line 136 – _________, the gap with nature is gradually closing.

Colleagues
Vital
Nonetheless
Insight
Riddle
gradually
Device
Gap
Vertical
Reproduce

20. Pg. 63, line 136 - …the gap with nature is _______ closing.

Colleagues
Vital
Nonetheless
Insight
Riddle
gradually
Device
Gap
Vertical
Reproduce

21. Reading and Oral
Summarizing -4A Text

 Read 1 paragraph silently
 Orally summarize the paragraph with your partner
 Repeat these steps until you have finished the text
( 25 minutes)
 Let Nikki know that you are ready for the discussion
questions
 Extra time? Complete pgs. 64-66

22. Discussion Questions

 1. Why is Parker studying the thorny devil? How could this help people in the real world?
 2. What are some examples from the text of how nature’s past has influenced our present?
Do you think we needed to study nature in order to come up with these ideas?
 3. What does it mean that the combination of biological insight and engineering
pragmatism are vital for biomimetics? Why is this combination vital?
 4. What do Rubner and Cohen consider to be a successful biomimetics project? Do you
agree with their definition?
 5. According to the article, what is an example of something from nature that we can’t
replicate at this point it time? Do you think we will ever be able to replicate this?
 6. What is stickybot? What could it be used for? What are your thoughts about this
invention?

23. HW

Newspaper Quiz = Friday (For this quiz, I will use 1-3
of the discussion questions (in the PPT). It will be “no
notes.”
VP 9 complete + check answers (Monday = 3A,
Tuesday = 3B)
 Print two copies of your VP 9 group work assignment
(Monday = 3A, Tuesday = 3B). I will collect your part at
the beginning of class and grade it for accuracy.