Assignment: Function Lens

Learning from Nature: Function Lens

THIS WEEK: FUNCTION LENS

  • Go outside.
  • Take a wander. (Be sure to wander in a place that you'll have access to for the next few weeks!)
  • Find a place. Identify a spot that feels good (safe and free of interruptions) and piques your interest or evokes a connection with you. A place with more natural surroundings is ideal (vs. concrete) but any place will do.
  • Get settled. Sit. Relax.
  • Take several deep breaths. Breathe.
  • Quiet your cleverness (meaning, slow your mind; try to receive rather than project)
  • Open your eyes. Open each of your senses! Don't forget to smell, touch, hear, and, yes, even taste your surroundings.
  • Observe. Spend at least 20 minutes taking in your natural surroundings.
  • Focus. Do not give up. Stay with it. Try to focus on something and just watch it. Really observe your place and its inhabitants. (SEE GUIDING QUESTIONS BELOW)
  • After 20 minutes, begin to document your observations in your notebook/journal. (You’ll want to make lots of notes, bulleted lists, diagrams, and sketches, etc., because you’ll be creating a blog post from your nature journal notes. This will help us to know your observation and journaling process.)
  • Note the date, time, location, weather, wind, cloud conditions
  • Follow your guiding questions below
  • Make quick sketches
  • Make detailed drawings
  • Make lists to organize your thoughts
  • Take pictures
  • Leave you place just as you found it and go back inside when you’re ready.

Some guiding questions to stimulate your FUNCTION LENS observations:

  • What are some things that the organism or system is doing that you can witness?
  • Explore your environment looking for examples of nature performing functions that human designs also seek to perform. Examples: filtering water, moving water, sticking to surfaces (adhesion), distributing or storing materials, cleaning.