Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge Launches for 2020-21 Academic Year

Registration for this transformative STEM learning experience now open for middle and high school educators.

October 14, 2020 — The Biomimicry Institute’s flagship youth education program is now open for a fourth season of transformative STEM learning. The Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge (YDC) is a free, project-based learning experience where teams of middle and high school students work to create bio-inspired solutions to real-world problems. Design projects are excellent supplements to any STEM-based educational curricula and may be optionally submitted to the Institute for awards and recognition.

Educators can register for the YDC to access the full curriculum, rubrics, and resources for guiding their learners through the challenge. The program is open to educators and students in both classrooms and out of school settings.

Biomimicry provides a framework to create engaging STEM learning experiences that are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), while reconnecting students with the wonders of nature and getting them thinking differently about creativity and innovation. Learning from nature enhances students’ interest in STEM subjects, makes learning fun, and exposes them to concepts and skills they will need to address the complex problems we face as a society—something many students currently need.

“The YDC program does an amazing job at providing a framework for the challenge,” said a previous YDC educator in an anonymous survey response. “The materials were abundant and the challenge itself was open-ended enough that I felt comfortable adapting the curriculum to my students’ needs and experience levels. I myself have learned a great deal through the process and will love to look at science lessons through the lens of biomimicry in the future.”

The Youth Design Challenge may be completed in about 5-8 weeks, depending on your instructional timeline. While the Challenge follows the U.S. academic calendar, formal and informal educators can teach the biomimicry project at any time during the year. Entries to be considered in the competition are due April 1, 2021, and awards are announced in May 2021.

For more information about the Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge and to register for the new Challenge year, visit youthchallenge.biomimicry.org.

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About the Biomimicry Institute 

The Biomimicry Institute is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 2006 that empowers people to seek nature-inspired solutions for a healthy planet. To advance the solution process, the Institute offers AskNature.org, a free online tool that contains strategies found in nature and examples of ways they are used in design. It also hosts a Biomimicry Global Design Challenge and Youth Design Challenge to support project-based education; a Biomimicry Launchpad program and Ray of Hope Prize® for entrepreneurship to bring designs to market; and connects innovators through the Global Biomimicry Network.

Media Contact

Lex Amore
Biomimicry Institute, Communications Director
[email protected]
415-800-1407