1. An Introduction to Fungus (10 minutes -
Review)
Mushrooms are part of a larger group of
plants known as fungi. A fungus is different from an
ordinary green plant because it can’ t make it’
s own food. Mushrooms come in many colors, shapes, and
sizes. As a matter of fact, there are 38, 000 different
varieties. They survive by eating decaying matter.
Mushrooms like to live in dark, damp places. They feed off
of the decaying matter around them using mycelium. As the
mushroom grows, it develops spores in the gills. The gills
are located on the underside of the cap. New mushrooms grow
from these spores. The spores of mushrooms are incredibly
tiny and cannot be viewed without the assistance of a
microscope. A collection of millions of these spores
would be a minute pile of fine powder.
These
mushroom spores are pictureed through the use of a
scanning electron microscope (University of New Hampshire).
When the spores are ripe, they shoot out of the mushroom.
They drift silently away with the currents of wind,
mixing with other mushrooms. If the spores are
lucky, they will land in an environment conducive to their
growth and development. If they land in a dark, damp place
with a food source, they will grow into new mushrooms.
First, they develop a threadlike structure called a hyphae.
Lots of hyphae grow together and form the mycelium. The
hyphae and the mycelium grow under the surface of the
ground where they can't be seen. Next, the fruiting body
starts to grow above the surface. When it first appears, it
looks like a little button. This button-like part of the
fruiting body is called the cap. The cap is protected by a
thin covering called a veil. As the mushroom grows bigger,
the veil splits and falls down around the stalk (stem) of
the mushroom and forms the annulus.
2. Mycellic Provisions
(10 minutes - Investigate)
After introducing
students to the interesting and important
role of mushrooms, consider some issues related to
design and the environment. Explain to students that in
the upcoming lesson they will be challenged to
use mushrooms as a design tool to solve a real-world
problem. However, before we get to this challenge,
we should consider some problems and their
solutions for inspiration in our own projects.
Problem
• Soil and Water Quality -
The United States is home to thousands of superfund and
brownfield sites. These are designated areas that have been
deemed too dangerous for habitation because the soil and
surrounding area has been contaminated by toxic
substances such as petroleum byproducts and
other chemical runoff. (Use
https://superfund365.
org/ to find out if a toxic site is near you)
• Food - Industrial farming has caused
an unknown amount of damage to soil quality.
If current trends persist, the
development of new and innovative food production
methods will be needed, especially methods that work
on a more local scale.
• Deforestation -
Large portions of the forested areas
around the country are being devastated in order to collect
timber.
This forest in Guatemala has been destroyed to
harvest wood and clear the way for new development (
guardian. co. uk ) • Building Performance
- Nearly 40-50% of our homes and buildings will need
to be weatherized, or made more efficient to save heat and
electricity over time.
Solutions
Dr. Paul Stamets,
author of Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Save the
World has developed many of the following strategies
that use the properties of mushrooms to address many
environmental design problems:
•
Mycoremediation - Oyster mushrooms have been proven
to clean up certain types of pollution like petroleum
wastes and diesel. In the 1990’ s Stamets and
researchers from Battelle Marine Sciences Laboratory in
Sequim, Washington grew oyster-mushroom mycelia on wood
chips, then sprinkled the chips onto a pile of soil
drenched in diesel and other petroleum waste. The pile was
covered with hundreds of pounds of oyster mushrooms within
a couple of days “ eating” the waste and
metabolizing the substance into what Stamets believes is a
harmless substrate.
• Mycofiltration -
Mycofiltration is the process of using mushroom mycelium
mats as biological filters. One industrial application of
mycofiltration has been to prevent erosion due to water
runoff. Its primary application has been on abandoned
logging roads
• Mycoforestation -
Mycoforestry is the use of fungi to sustain forest
communities.
• Insulation - A design
firm, Ecovative Design has developed a process that uses
the mushroom roots, mycelium as glue for an eco-friendly
insulation material. Combined with agricultural byproducts
(waste products from the farm like rice husks) the mushroom
glue is poured into a mold. Just like yeast and bread, over
a couple of days, they digest the agricultural byproducts
and form them into strong, beautiful bio-composites. This
material, Greensulate can then be used to insulate
buildings. (See Ecovative in the 2010 National Design
Triennial)
Some other real-world applications:
• The U. S. Department of Defense’ s
Project BioShield is working with Dr. Paul Stamets,
mycologist to use mushrooms strains like Agarikon to
selectively attack cowpox and vaccinia viruses.
•
Stamets is also developing a certain fungi that can
infect and kill ants and termites.
•
When fungal sugars are mixed with yeast and other active
ingredients, they turn into “ myconol” —a fuel
no different from the ethanol now being blended with
gasoline to power cars.
Math Application:
Use this math application to help students understand how
fungus grows:
2number of generations x initial number
of fungus spores = total # of fungus spore present after n
generations
Example: Bacillus cereus divides every 30
minutes. You inoculate a culture with exactly 100 fungus
spores. After 3 hours, how many spores are present?
In 3 hours, B. cereus will divide 6 times. Therefore, n =
6.
26 = 64 or 2x2x2x2x2x2
100 x 64 = 6, 400
cells
Some other math facts/ideas:
•
A mature mushroom can produce 2 billion spores in 4
days
• It takes 96 hours to produce 2
billion spores, 500 million in 24 hours
•
Measuring the diameter/radius of a mushroom cap can
be a great activity for geometry or measurement
3.
Mycological Design Challenge (15 minutes -
Generate)
Now present students with a design
challenge - how can mushrooms be used to help with issues
in your community? Use this as an opportunity to include
geography concepts you are exploring in Social Studies.
Divide students into Myco-Design teams. Present each team
with a scenario or challenge. Encourage them to use their
new knowledge about mushrooms to design a solution that
will be presented to you and the rest of the
class:
• Brownfield/Superfund Site
- There has been an oil spill in a nearby river
valley. The oil is slowly spreading around the site and
into the water supply. Develop a design strategy for
reducing the impact of this oil spill on the environment.
How can you use mushrooms to help with this challenge?
Create a model and sketch out a diagram of a cleanup site
and machine you would build to help.
•
Deforestation - A new logging company has just left a
recently logged site. The landscape has been ravaged! All
that is left are stumps, mud and some grass. How can you
design a strategy for helping the forest come back to life?
How could mushrooms help in this process? Design a
re-forestation strategy for the area and develop a plan for
implementation.
• Building
Performance/Insulation - You’ ve just been
hired by the mayor to make all of the public buildings in
your town more energy efficient. But there is one catch
- you need to use earth friendly materials to help
insulate or fix these buildings so they save more heat and
electricity. You are also located in a town that has a lot
of agricultural waste. How can mushrooms be used to help
make the town hall and other public buildings more energy
efficient? What would your design strategy look like?
Sketch out some ideas, describe the kinds of materials you
would develop, use and the implementation strategy needed.
See the Greensulate case study in the 2010 National Design
Triennial’ s catalog.
• Food -
Design a farm for mushrooms that could feed 500 community
members. There are many ways to grow mushrooms using
controlled environments or inoculated logs or woodchips.
The mushroom farm would consist of a number of
environmentally controlled growing rooms/areas for logs an.
A pack-house and cold store are also required along
with offices and staff facilities. An area of
concrete and a pasteurization room would be required for
the production of compost. Each room could produce enough
mushrooms for 500 people each month. However, after each
harvest it will take 3-4 weeks until the next harvest. To
keep a steady supply of mushrooms, you will need several
rooms growing your mushrooms on a rotating basis.
4. Mushroom Design Lab (25 minutes - Edit and
Develop)
Encourage students to brainstorm with
their teams.
Each team must create a series of sketches,
write down a proposed plan and then create either a poster
diagram of their project or a 3D model using recyclable
materials.
Encourage labeling and clear explanation
of how mushrooms are used as an eco-design strategy to
address their particular challenge.
Share each team’
s design. If time permits, setup a mock community board or
council in the classroom. Debate some of the proposals and
as a class vote on the best project. (Share and
Evaluate)