Exploring nature

Explore how polar bear fur insulates to keep the bear warm in the Arctic Circle, linking function and strategy of adaptations to heat preservation and potential human insulation design.

Plants perform photosynthesis by absorbing blue and red light with chlorophyll in chloroplasts to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugars and oxygen, storing energy as atp.

Explore how pigments and nanostructures create structural colors in nature, from chlorophyll greens and plant blues to Morpho butterfly iridescence, and how light diffraction produces vivid hues.

Learn to identify functions by asking the right questions and finding organisms that perform the same function, guiding solutions for heat, electricity, solar energy, colors, and surface protection.

Explore how context shapes diverse strategies used by plants and animals to keep surfaces clean. Learn to use online tools like Ask Nature and Binomo to discover nature-inspired design solutions.

Engage in creative nature exercises that wake curiosity through blind drawing, fast drawing, and a 25–30 minute observation, then describe observations and explore natural functions such as cooling and filtering.

Explore how systems—from ecosystems to organizations and technologies—derive function from interactions among parts. A car illustrates how relationships enable transport and services, and how breaking those links dissolves purpose.

Explore how natural systems—from Earth to a cell—are interdependent networks with boundaries and subsystems, cycling energy, water, and mutual benefits.

Explore earth boundaries and how limited water, atmosphere, sunlight, and gravity shape a dynamic ecological balance, where whales and grizzly bears are keystone species.

Diagram and analyze systems by creating technical drawings that map connections, flows, and resources at system boundaries. Translate an environment into an energy flow diagram using arrows, symbols, and notes.

Identify nature's principles that guide how organisms function and interact to build resilient ecosystems. Explore evolution and unifying patterns that enable adaptive, values-based, life-supporting systems across Earth.

Explore nature's energy efficiency, recycling of materials, and resilience strategies, from sun-powered photosynthesis and renewable local energy to material cycles and redundancy that enable ecosystems to rebound.

Nature optimizes, balances resources, and uses form to determine function, as seen in deer antlers, bones, and spider silk, while favoring safe, locally available materials.

Explore how nature offers mutual benefits through symbiosis, predation, and parasitism, guided by collective survival that sustains ecosystems and diverse organisms.

Explore how nature uses information and feedback loops to adapt, coordinate via self-organized systems and pheromone trails, and thrive in changing urban environments.

Explore how biological strategies adapt to survive, recognize the interconnected web of life on Earth, and apply nature's principles to sustainable, circular, and resilient design.

Celebrate finishing this course and apply the knowledge of how nature works to your professional and daily life, and reflect on the many topics and natural phenomena you explored.