Product Innovation and Design

This module is designed to pique students’ interest in careers within the CA industry sector “Manufacturing and Product Design”, and encourage them to enroll in the high school CTE Pathway called “Product Innovation and Design”. During this instructional unit, students will explore innovative products that are either sustainable or support the circular economy. In addition, students will learn how to use Tinkercad, a free, online design tool, and how to utilize Design Thinking and the principles of biomimicry to design a new product that is environmentally sustainable.

Over the course of this module, students will focus and reflect on the UN Sustainable Development Goal #12 (Responsible Production and Consumption), with the hope that students will implement sustainable and socially-responsible practices at home, school, and as future members of the workforce. By learning about biomimicry, students will learn how to look toward nature for inspiration and ideas that will help them design a product that is more efficient, sustainable, and has proven its success as a result of the evolutionary process.

Module Overview: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZPSpx4wWpdD-bWdbDXUcEmbSnvIyULS7VBPcJb_WfqI/edit?usp=sharing

For the lessons that include slide decks, please make sure you check the notes at the bottom of individual slides for instructional recommendations and suggestions.

As the first lesson in this module, students will learn about product innovation, and the importance that those products are developed with an environmentally-sustainable mindset. Students receive and observe two products that exemplify sustainability. Students also contextualize manufacturing and product design within the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

Lesson Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zABKQSbi5bC577CiqqviafOI76yS895LS790iwDkqyU/edit?usp=sharing

Slide Deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Tgmrz2SIk0ITr-VnJns7M2DokFqUpWxODeIkY9sPFiU/edit?usp=sharing

During this lesson, students will be introduced to Tinkercad by watching an introductory video. Then, students will practice using Tinkercad’s design tools by watching a tutorial video to help guide them through the process of creating their first object. Later in this module, students will use Tinkercad to design an innovative product.

Lesson Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15SRnJzRpCEAKc4gvK7ir7NRKYQUa8aO6fzW8p3zIc3g/edit?usp=sharing

Slide Deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EQ4OG9q5AT9yItSSRQVpMXYE9ZMHJxEkQ_F2f6imir0/edit?usp=sharing

During this lesson, students continue their exploration of Tinkercad by copying the design of one of three objects. The purpose of this activity is to help students familiarize themselves with the Tinkercad tools, which would allow them to design their own innovation in future lessons.

Lesson Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17-uo8HUJw6BIGf67w_tHmyVOrRYWs3hpLgzVdjOuJ90/edit?usp=sharing

Slide Deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1o-buZbM00FCmnNnSI7VK1xLyLRdtQLNZaq0UysyPHkc/edit?usp=sharing

During this lesson students are introduced to the innovative practices of sustainable design and biomimicry. It is important that students understand that biomimicry is a practice where deep observation of nature provides inspiration for learning how nature designs. The goal is to have students begin to shift their lens from nature as an obstacle to designing solutions to nature as an elegant designer of all things, with 3.8 billion years of success. Biomimicry offers a sustainable way to design for our world.

Lesson Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CChVb9zaSDdLgEl4DC3VdX7u2G9QKIueaSkfkqrI8VI/edit?usp=sharing

During this lesson, students continue their exploration of Tinkercad by modeling the design of an insect. The purpose of this activity is to have students focus on those structures that confer environmental benefits to that organism, and become inspired by those features to think how they could be applied to the design of a product.

Lesson Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LGhimsuXvRt_YlLeOXDy2KojpAOUhZJKeE4bH2nLPpc/edit?usp=sharing

Slide Deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1I09B4Yy_OoKnNIycDczJz9Y5FQx5Q_nluK7D4a7dsmc/edit?usp=sharing

During this lesson students are introduced to a practice in design thinking and product innovation. It is important that students understand that design is a result of human needs and wants.

Lesson Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N30WXuraXcjfAo9jXrMsv_w5HRB4OI-HO3XetvnM8sQ/edit?usp=sharing

Slide Deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mdT-aRpg7GPh_mS-0cFSXtBNcN95MeUHb1pNJRm3t-s/edit?usp=sharing

Design Lens: Essential Elements of Biomimicry: https://biomimicry.net/the-buzz/resources/designlens-essential-elements/#:~:text=Biomimicry%20DesignLens&text=The%20ethos%20element%20forms%20the,fellow%20species%20and%20our%20home

During this lesson, students will understand that design in the process of iterating on technologies. Students will identify some biological strategies and examples from nature that inspire design ideas.

Lesson Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19AsUQvwhL-7vG2O4dJR6fc2BOZFmgOJB2k9BU8U337U/edit?usp=sharing

Ask Nature Scavenger Hunt: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SrsGULz8K8Cl0ln60wS0V-eVIszlEZul/view?usp=sharing

During this lesson, students will learn about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, think about problems in their community, and brainstorm biomimetic solutions to that problem. They also review and reflect upon their learning about biomimicry over time.

Lesson Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JlagNSPCuNTD1end36D8xCi4s-XHu8Ojo28NM7UoamA/edit?usp=sharing

Slide Deck: None

Students begin lesson 9 reviewing the module to this point: product innovation, sustainability, the purpose of tinkercad, and biomimicry. Then, the teacher shares the design challenge with the students: “Apply biomimicry to solve a problem. Communicate your idea by making a model using Tinkercad.” Students then spend time learning how to define their problem, begin researching problems and the systems in which they exist, and then share their ideas with their classmates to find a partner. Student pairs then spend the duration of lesson 10 researching the problem and begin devising solutions (on paper).

Lesson Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/123KLbghDBwd9DyMku3oOPvZgOytfyBatvoTYes77lLs/edit?usp=sharing

Slide Deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FwPYp8RmHSwL3c5-kxsgUetOAgezZ4nyAtnoOtomtTI/edit?usp=sharing

By the beginning of this lesson, student groups should have a problem that they would like to solve using the principles of biomimicry. Once they have defined the problem, students will have three lessons (and time outside of class) to design a model of the solution using Tinkercad, paper, clay, or recycled materials, and prepare a short presentation to share the solution with their peers (during lesson 14).

Lesson plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tlk3nQngIgPKLa2dy25UgM2m6v4gLCmwtVIo4d-kIJk/edit?usp=sharing

Google Slide Deck Presentation Template: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xR8embMol7bp00WCVfj7SHjnFdMn8K8l-lnjkfMWSDQ/copy

During this lesson, students will use a sharing protocol to share their presentation with two other student groups. During these sharing sessions, students will receive feedback about their ideas and design.

Lesson plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xlD1wqvsjXXNJNmIcgA3EO03KJIwPqNbnDTSAUmmmQE/edit?usp=sharing

During this lesson, students will reflect on their new understanding of how to design with nature Biomimicry. Students will also reflect on the process of learning Tinkercad and biomimicry concurrently.

Lesson Plan: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rWbGDJNhbTyEQIPfpwsySlxUMUkBkgN_dl4Ov7YS0Gs/edit?usp=sharing

Slide Deck: None