Education for Sustainability in Engineering: Biomimicry and Augmented Reality as New Pedagogical Tools to Enhance Engagement

The consequence of not complying with the SDGs is chaos in all areas. Universities have a fundamental role in raising awareness of new generations to abide by the SDGs, expanding knowledge, and creating sustainable skills. Education for Sustainability (ESD) is a set of strategies to achieve the objective. Specific methods are described here to value nature as a source of inspiration for solving challenges (Biomimetics) and create a solid sustainable awareness. On the other hand, spaces were generated using technological tools like augmented reality to capture students' attention toward fundamental sustainability concepts. Through satisfaction and challenge-solving questionnaires, the students demonstrated that 1) Understanding the current problem with current examples and the local environment, planning affordable solutions makes raising awareness more enjoyable and solid, 2) Being digital natives, the use of technological tools increases their attention to the concepts and 3) The socialization of the problem of sustainability outside the classroom is only achieved with a discussion initiated at the University.