A STEM-based instructional design for the middle school 5th grade science applications course: Technologies inspired by nature

This study aims to develop an instructional design for the Technologies Inspired by Nature subject included in the 2018 curriculum of the Science Applications course and to examine the implementation process of it. For this purpose, a teacher's book and teaching materials were prepared for the Technologies Inspired by Nature (Biomimicry) subject included in the Science Applications curriculum for the 5th grade. The course implementation steps planned in the teacher's book were applied to 68 students in the 5th grade. The necessary explanations were made to the students before and after the implementation, and data collection tools were administered. The data were obtained through engineering teamwork portfolios, a biomimicry modeling and presentation rubric, and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that the student groups made productions in all stages of the engineering design process. The instructional design developed and implemented in this study succeeded in including biomimicry in the STEM education process and enhanced students' perceptions of biomimicry as well as their awareness about the relationship between nature and technology.