Biom*: On becoming a teachable discipline

Biomimetic Research for Applications Addressing Technical Environmental Protection

“…Biomimetics is considered to have a significant impact on science, technology, and society [ 1 ]. Its research has increased over the last decades, and the trend for an increasing number of publications is ongoing [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The topics covered by this research vary [ 1 , 4 , 5 ] showing the broad impact that biomimetics may have on various sectors and branches of society, from technology-oriented science and business innovation, to the economy at large [ 6 , 7 ].…”

The Education Pipeline of Biomimetics and Its Challenges

“…What becomes clear with the integration of these industry challenges is that the superdiscipline of biomimetics [ 7 ] itself has advanced considerably over the past decades. Challenges experienced in the infancy of biom* focused on ‘how to do biomimetics’, and now we are challenged with how to do it efficiently, more deliberately, or more frequently.…”

“…The transdisciplinary nature of biom* education presents a significant challenge to supporting post-secondary student learning because institutions are not designed to support non-traditional learning models [43,44,59]. Preliminary research by Jacobs and Wanieck (2022) and a study by von Gleich et al (2010) suggests that learning about biological systems by non-biology students is limited or lacking until graduate school [7,60]. Most of the post-secondary and graduate biom* education opportunities are housed within existing disciplinary departments (usually engineering), which often over-emphasizes the contributions of that discipline to biom*, reducing it to an interdisciplinary practice rather than transdisciplinary.…”

“…Because biomimetics is a superdiscipline, one that integrates multiple traditional disciplines, to advance the practice, formal pedagogies for teaching the unique knowledge, methods, and values of biomimetics must be developed, tested, and taught to practitioners and would-be practitioners of biomimetics [ 7 ]. However, there are still various aspects of biomimetics instruction and pedagogy under investigation: what and whom to teach ([ 8 ]), whom to involve in projects [ 9 , 10 , 11 ], which resources, tools, and methods to include in teaching and implementing biomimetics [ 7 , 12 , 13 ], and when and how to offer learning opportunities [ 2 , 8 ]. Additionally, the key concepts of educational programs need to be clarified, e.g., the effectiveness of knowledge translation and transfer of biology to design.…”

“…Biomimetics, (a.k.a. Biom*—a term used to represent and acknowledge the many facets and philosophies within the superdiscipline of biomimetics [ 7 ]), was predicted to become a dominant paradigm for engineering and other technological disciplines [ 34 , 35 ] with great potential for scientific [ 14 , 36 ], societal [ 37 , 38 ], and economic impact [ 39 , 40 ]. Using biom* to meet pressing and global environmental challenges will require that more people from all disciplines and across all industrial sectors (1) know how to work well together on transdisciplinary teams, and (2) understand biological systems, their development, and evolutionary adaptation [ 9 ], as well as how they relate to the human environment.…”