Bionics in Grade 10
As part of the interdisciplinary lessons in year 10, the students split into thematic groups that all dealt with different aspects of bionics. In order to get a deeper understanding of, for example, swarm intelligence, the lotus effect, fin-ray and lightweight constructions, the students went to Dresden.
Our group went to the student lab at TU Dresden to conduct some experiments. Four experiments were available to us from which each of us could choose two. In the experiment ‘lightweight constructions’ we learned how lightweight materials are produced, processed and used. The group ‘Planes’ were concerned with the structure and materials of jet engines. We determined features like density, thermal expansion, stability and prices which the materials were supposed to have. We found all this with the help of an oven and a traction engine.
Further experiments were about self-made superglue, hydrophobicity and differently processed metals. At the end, each group prepared a short presentation about their results for the others.
On Tuesday we conducted experiments about the lotus effect. We checked out the hydrophobicity of plants in six different experiments that the students conducted on their own.
These results were again shown and evaluated in short presentations.
