On the 15th of May, directly after the DP1 had completed their second set of exams of that year, they began the mandatory IB project–The Group 4 Project. The group 4 project is an interdisciplinary learning engagement where students from their elected science subjects combine their knowledge together on a scientific and technological investigation by a given topic. This year’s topic was biomimicry. The current group of subjects in this batch of DP1 is– Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Sports Exercise Health Science (SEHS) and Design. 

On the first day of the project, we were introduced to the topic of biomimicry that was also based around the SDG’s (sustainable development goals) life on land and life on water, which the groups had the option to pick between. From that we began ideation and brainstorming possible ideas that fell into this topic and that involved each of the sciences. Each group was required to brainstorm three possible ideas, and by the end of the first day take their strongest idea and finalize it.

Day 2 and day 3 took us to the Ecole Intuit Lab,  a design college in Mumbai that works on innovative graphic design, to guide us through developing our ideas, researching materials, and sketching prototypes. While these two days did act as a great way to develop our ideas, the focus was largely on design, pushing sciences like Physics and SEHS to the side, as they were the most challenging to create links with. Nevertheless, we were able to use all the sciences in our design, even if some were more challenging to incorporate than others.

Our final day was spent at the campus of Ecole Intuit Lab in Worli, and after a short bus ride, we got a tour around the campus, started receiving our materials and began creating. While groups were waiting for their materials to arrive, we looked at 3D printers in action, which was something some of us grew really fascinated with. Ishaan Rajan said– 

As the day of the exhibition rolled around, each of the groups began decorating their corners of the floor with their prototypes. After being so focused within our own projects, it was definitely interesting to see the other projects, and the way other groups had interpreted prompts differently. Kavya Hebbar said–“On the day of the exhibition I actually saw some prototypes, and was genuinely surprised by some of the work the groups had put it in”, she went on to say–“Specifically the group that created a water filtration system through biomimicry, which was something that I found really innovative”.  During the exhibition, explaining the idea to people allowed us to understand future developments that we could take. Once the exhibition ended, we were treated to brownies which was a great way to finish the project. 

While the group 4 project is something that not all DP students love and look forward to, it is a great way to learn about the other sciences, create connections and become closer with your other classmates. Although the process was tiring as it came immediately after exams, it allowed us to come together in an interdisciplinary collaborative engagement, which is what the IB loves.