Education as Nature: Leveraging 3.8 Billion Years of R&D || Laura Stevens

In this episode of The (Re)generative Education Podcast I chat with Laura Stevens, senior lecturer in biomimicry and coordinator of the design with nature course at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. She is also one of the expert ambassadors for biomimicry Netherlands and is a force of nature for bringing the living world closer to the higher educational classroom. In this episode, Laura argues for leveraging the 3.8 billion years of R&D that life has already done for us as a rich place for learning to co-create and co-design more regenerative human systems.   

In this discussion the following systemic barriers and opportunities emerged:  

1. Using nature as the richest curriculum that we have and the awe-inspiring potential of the natural world that can incite inquisitiveness when it is invited into our learning spaces.  
2. Facilitating the reconnection between people and more-than-human nature as a key component of Higher Education. 
3. The importance of learning to look through system level's and using those for design(ing interventions).  
4. The power of cultivating cooperative relationships in the beginning of a course as a basis for tackling challenges.  
5. The power of creating powerful momentum for learning by creating high power starting events.  
6. The importance of making education fun and playful.  

External Links:  

The Biomimicry Institute — Nature-Inspired Innovation 

Biomimicry (biomimicrynl.org) 

Laura Stevens | LinkedIn 

Biomimicry Education, A Conversation with Laura Stevens - The Hague University 

Laura Stevens Biomimicry Expert (@buildingpassion) / Twitter 

Laura Lee Stevens @BmyEdu (@biomimicry_education) • Instagram photos and videos 

Innovation Inspired by Nature — AskNature