Find Other Bio-Based Materials in Your Lifestyle
Follow this activity to try to come up with other examples of products derived from bio-based materials.
In this collection, we’ve learned about one example of a bio-based material, silk fibroin, but there are many more materials in our everyday lives that came from a once-living substance. Now it’s your turn to look around your surroundings and see what other everyday products that you use have biological origin!
Use the prompts below as a guide to get you started on your research:
- Go outside and look for raw materials! See if you and your students can come up with practical uses for them (e.g. disposable paper plates made from plant leaves).
- Think about your cultural background! Are there bio-based materials that have cultural significance and/or are popular?
- Look into the history of different industries! The food, dye, textile, cleaning product, and medical industries have all incorporated bio-based elements into their products, you might even have those products in your home.
- Brainstorm what other commonplace products you think should utilize bio-based substances in order to create a more sustainable future. Conversely, are there products that you think would not work well with bio-based materials?
Share your thoughts with others.
Did you have an interesting discussion with your students? Find cool bio-based substances? Post them to this forum below!
