The engineering design process emphasizes open-ended problem solving and encourages students to learn from failure. This process nurtures students’ abilities to create innovative solutions to challenges in any subject! Show
 The engineering design process is a series of steps that guides engineering teams as we solve problems. The design process is
iterative, meaning that we repeat the steps as many times as needed, making improvements along the way as we learn from failure and uncover new design possibilities to arrive at great solutions. Overarching themes of the engineering design process are teamwork and design. Strengthen your students’ understanding of open-ended design as you encourage them to work together to brainstorm new ideas, apply science and math concepts, test
prototypes and analyze data—and aim for creativity and practicality in their solutions. Project-based learning engages learners of all ages—and fosters STEM literacy. Engineers ask critical questions about what they want to create, whether it be a skyscraper, amusement park ride, bicycle or smartphone. These questions include: What is the problem to solve? What do we want to
design? Who is it for? What do we want to accomplish? What are the project requirements? What are the limitations? What is our goal? This includes talking to people from many different
backgrounds and specialties to assist with researching what products or solutions already exist, or what technologies might be adaptable to your needs. You work with
a team to brainstorm ideas and develop as many solutions as possible. This is the time to encourage wild ideas and defer judgment! Build on the ideas of others! Stay focused on topic, and have one conversation at a time! Remember: good design is all about teamwork! Help students understand the brainstorming guidelines by using the TE handout and two sizes of
classroom posters. For
many teams this is the hardest step! Revisit the needs, constraints and research from the earlier steps, compare your best ideas, select one solution and make a plan to move forward with it. Building a prototype makes your ideas real! These early versions of the design solution help your team verify whether the design meets the original challenge objectives. Push yourself for creativity, imagination and excellence in design. Does it work? Does it solve the need? Communicate the results and get feedback. Analyze and talk about what works, what doesn't and what could be improved. Discuss how you could improve your solution. Make revisions. Draw new designs. Iterate your design to make your product the best it can be. Engineering-Design Aligned Curricula Grades K-2
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Grades 9-12
Bacteria! It’s Everywhere! Students investigate what causes them to become sick during the school year. They use the engineering design process to test the classroom lab spaces for bacteria. After their tests, they develop ideas to control the spread of germs within the classroom. Activity
Be “Cool” with Popsicle Engineering Create popsicles using the engineering design process! In this activity, students work to solve the problems of a local popsicle shop while learning how scientific and engineering concepts play a part in behind-the-scenes design. Activity
Design a Better Bandage In this maker challenge, students follow the engineering design process and use water-absorbing crystals to create a bandage that can be used in a traumatic situation, like a car accident or hiking accident. Maker Challenge
Engineering an Animal’s Survival Students perform research and design prosthetic prototypes for an animal to use for its survival. They research a set of pre-chosen animals and their habitats. They then create habitats for their animals to live and model 3D prosthetics for the animals to use with modeling clay. Activity
Inundation Inspiration Students employ the engineering design process to create a device that uses water-absorbing crystals for use during a flood or storm surge. They use (or build) a toy house, follow the engineering design process to build their device, and subject the house to tests that mimic a heavy flood or rising ... Maker Challenge
Invent a Backscratcher from Everyday Materials Given scrap cardboard, paper towel tubes, scissors, and glue, how could a student invent their own backscratcher? Engage in the process of how real engineers design products to meet a desired function. Activity
Keeping Damp in a Drought Students design a way for mint plants to keep a constant moisture level for 72 hours. The mint plants must be kept moist since they are young and just starting to establish growth. Maker Challenge
Naturally Organized Design a customized table top supply organizer inspired by the natural home of a ladybug—or any other insect of a student's choosing—to hold all of their classroom supplies! By the end of this activity, students will understand the properties of biomimicry and the engineering design process. Activity
Silkworm Strength! Students use the engineering design process to design a bridge out of silkworm cocoons that can hold at least 50 grams. Students can use other materials to supplement the silk bridge, but have a $10 budget. Maker Challenge
Stop Freewheeling Using Friction! In this maker challenge, students use the engineering design process to design a covering for a portable wheelchair ramp for their school. The design must be easy to use, and allows people to move up the ramp easily and go down slowly. Maker Challenge
Biodomes are Engineered Ecosystems: A Mini World As students learn about the creation of biodomes, they are introduced to the steps of the engineering design process, including guidelines for brainstorming. They learn how engineers are involved in the design and construction of biodomes and use brainstorming to come up with ideas for possible biod... Lesson
Biodomes Engineering Design Project: Lessons 2-6 In this multi-day activity, students explore environments, ecosystems, energy flow and organism interactions by creating a scale model biodome, following the steps of the engineering design process. Activity
Biohazard Protection Design Project: Suit Up! Students learn about providing healthcare in a global setting and the importance of wearing protective equipment when treating patients with infectious diseases like Ebola. They learn about biohazard suits, heat transfer through conduction and convection and the engineering design cycle. Student tea... Activity
Build a Toy Workshop Working as if they are engineers who work for (the hypothetical) Build-a-Toy Workshop company, students apply their imaginations and the engineering design process to design and build prototype toys with moving parts. They set up electric circuits using batteries, wire and motors. They create plans ... Activity
Clean Enough to Drink: Making Devices to Filter Dirty Water Whether on Earth or in space, life-threatening illnesses may occur if the water we drink is of poor quality. It’s up to your students to design and build a filtration system for the International Space Station so they can guarantee astronauts get the safe and clean water they need. Activity
Constraints: Pop Rockets on a Shoestring Budget Your students have been hired to build a pop rocket, but on a tight budget. Engineering design usually has some constraints and you won’t always have access to the materials you think you might need. But through brainstorming and trial and error, a viable rocket launch is definitely possible! Activity
Construct and Test Roofs for Different Climates In this activity, students design and build model houses, then test them against various climate elements, and then re-design and improve them. Using books, websites and photos, students learn about the different types of roofs found on various houses in different environments throughout the world.... Activity
Cutting Through Soil Students pretend they are agricultural engineers during the colonial period and design a miniature plow that cuts through a "field" of soil. They are introduced to the engineering design process and learn of several famous historical figures who contributed to plow design. Activity
Design a Better Bandage In this maker challenge, students follow the engineering design process and use water-absorbing crystals to create a bandage that can be used in a traumatic situation, like a car accident or hiking accident. Maker Challenge
Design and Fly a Kite Students learn how to use wind energy to combat gravity and create lift by creating their own tetrahedral kites capable of flying. They explore different tetrahedron kite designs, learning that the geometry of the tetrahedron shape lends itself well to kites and wings because of its advantageous str... Activity
Design Criteria-to-Working Model: Engineer a Sneaker Students learn the basics of engineering sneakers and shoes. They are challenged to decide on specific design requirements, such as heavy traction or extra cushioning, and then use different materials to create working prototype shoes that meet the design criteria. Includes worksheets. Activity
Design Your Own Snazzy Sneakers For this maker challenge, students decide on specific design requirements (such as good traction or deep cushioning), sketch their plans, and then use a variety of materials to build prototype shoes that meet the design criteria. Maker Challenge
Engineering a Habitat’s Humidity Students design a temporary habitat for a future classroom pet—a hingeback tortoise. The students investigate hingeback tortoise habitat features as well as the design features of such a habitat. Each group communicates and presents this information to the rest of the class after they research, brai... Activity
Engineering a Mountain Rescue Litter When a person gets injured in the wilderness and needs medical attention, rescuers might use a device called a mountain rescue litter specifically designed for difficult evacuations. Design and build a small-sized prototype to save some (potatoes’) lives! Activity
Engineering Derby: Tool Ingenuity Student teams are challenged to navigate a table tennis ball through a timed obstacle course using only the provided unconventional “tools.” Teams act as engineers by working through the steps of the engineering design process to complete the overall task with each group member responsible to accomp... Activity
Engineering in the World of Dr. Seuss Students explore the engineering design process within the context of Dr. Seuss’s book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Students study a sample of aloe vera gel (the oobleck) in lab groups. After analyzing the substance, they use the engineering design process to develop and test other substances to ma... Activity
Gone with the Wind Energy: Design-Build-Test Mini Sail Cars! Students explore the use of wind power in the design, construction and testing of "sail cars," which, in this case, are little wheeled carts with masts and sails that are powered by the moving air generated from a box fan. The scientific method is reviewed and reinforced with the use of controls and... Activity
Hare and Snail Challenges Students engage in the second design challenge of the unit, which is an extension of the maze challenge they solved in the first lesson/activity of this unit. Students extend the ideas learned in the maze challenge with a focus more on the robot design. Specifically, students learn how to design the... Activity
Inundation Inspiration Students employ the engineering design process to create a device that uses water-absorbing crystals for use during a flood or storm surge. They use (or build) a toy house, follow the engineering design process to build their device, and subject the house to tests that mimic a heavy flood or rising ... Maker Challenge
Keeping Damp in a Drought Students design a way for mint plants to keep a constant moisture level for 72 hours. The mint plants must be kept moist since they are young and just starting to establish growth. Maker Challenge
Line-Follower Challenge Student groups are challenged to program robots with color sensors to follow a black line. Learning both the logic and skills behind programming robots for this challenge helps students improve their understanding of how robots "think" and widens their appreciation for the complexity involved in pro... Activity
Master Driver As part of a design challenge, students learn how to use a rotation sensor (located inside the casing of a LEGO® MINDSTORMS ® EV3 motor) to measure how far a robot moves with each rotation. Through experimentation and measurement with the sensor, student pairs determine the relationship between the ... Activity
Maze Challenge As the first engineering design challenge of the unit, students are introduced to the logic for solving a maze. Student groups apply logic to program LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 robots to navigate through a maze, first with no sensors, and then with sensors. Activity
Naked Egg Drop Student pairs experience the iterative engineering design process as they design, build, test and improve catching devices to prevent a "naked" egg from breaking when dropped from increasing heights. To support their design work, they learn about materials properties, energy types and conservation o... Activity
Problem Solve Your School Students apply what they have learned about the engineering design process to a real-life problem that affects them and/or their school. They choose a problem as a group, and then follow the engineering design process to come up with and test their design solution. Activity
Race to the Top! Modeling Skyscrapers Working individually or in pairs, students compete to design, create, test and redesign free-standing, weight-bearing towers using Kapla® wooden blocks. The challenge is to build the tallest tower while meeting the design criteria and minimizing the amount of material used—all within a time limit. Activity
Right on Target: Catapult Game Students experience the engineering design process as they design and build accurate and precise catapults using common materials. They use their catapults to participate in a game in which they launch Ping-Pong balls to attempt to hit various targets. Activity
Sea Turtle Eggs: Washed to Sea? Students employ the full engineering design process to research and design prototypes that could be used to solve the loss of sea turtle life during a hurricane. Students learn about sea turtle nesting behaviors and environmental impacts of hurricanes. Students work collaboratively to build structur... Activity
Silkworm Strength! Students use the engineering design process to design a bridge out of silkworm cocoons that can hold at least 50 grams. Students can use other materials to supplement the silk bridge, but have a $10 budget. Maker Challenge
Simulation in Healthcare Students learn how engineering design is applied to solve healthcare problems by using an engineering tool called simulation. While engineering design is commonly used to study and design everything from bridges, factories, airports to space shuttles, the use of engineering design to study healthcar... Lesson
Stop Freewheeling Using Friction! In this maker challenge, students use the engineering design process to design a covering for a portable wheelchair ramp for their school. The design must be easy to use, and allows people to move up the ramp easily and go down slowly. Maker Challenge
Straw Towers to the Moon Students learn about civil engineers and work through each step of the engineering design process in two mini-activities that prepare them for a culminating challenge to design and build the tallest straw tower possible, given limited time and resources. In the culminating challenge (tallest straw t... Activity
Sumobot Challenge Students apply their knowledge of constructing and programming LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robots to create sumobots—strong robots capable of pushing other robots out of a ring. To meet the challenge, groups follow the steps of the engineering design process and consider robot structure, weight and gear ratio... Activity
Temperature Tells All! Model House Testing for Clean vs. Warm Air Students learn about health risks caused by cooking and heating with inefficient stoves inside homes. They simulate the cook stove scenario and follow the engineering design process steps, including iterative trials, to increase warmth inside a building while reducing air quality problems. A student... Activity
The Strongest Strongholds Students work together in small groups, while competing with other teams, to explore the engineering design process through a tower building challenge. They are given a set of design constraints and then conduct online research to learn basic tower-building concepts. During a two-day process and usi... Activity
Time for Design Students are introduced to the engineering design process, focusing on the concept of brainstorming design alternatives. They learn that engineering is about designing creative ways to improve existing artifacts, technologies or processes, or developing new inventions that benefit society. Lesson
Ultrasonic Sensor Robot Design Project: Don't Bump into Me! Students' understanding of how robotic ultrasonic sensors work is reinforced in a design challenge involving LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 robots and ultrasonic sensors. Student groups program their robots to move freely without bumping into obstacles (toy LEGO people). Activity
Wind-Powered Sail Cars Student pairs design and construct small, wind-powered sail cars using limited quantities of drinking straws, masking tape, paper and beads. Teams compete to see which sail car travels the farthest when pushed by the wind (simulated by the use of an electric fan). Students learn about wind and kinet... Activity
Adding Helpful Carrier Devices to Crutches Student teams are challenged to design assistive devices that modify crutches to help people carry things such as books and school supplies. Given a list of constraints, including a device weight limit and minimum load capacity, groups brainstorm ideas and then make detailed plans for their best sol... Maker Challenge
Algorithmic Remote Rover Programming: Curiosity Killed the App Students gain experience with the software/system design process, closely related to the engineering design process, to solve a problem. The lesson culminates in a hands-on experience with the design process as students simulate the remote control of a rover. Lesson
Amusement Park Ride: Ups and Downs in Design Students design, build and test looping model roller coasters using foam pipe insulation tubing. They learn about potential and kinetic energy as they test and evaluate designs, addressing the task as if they are engineers. Winning designs have the lowest cost and best aesthetics. Three student work... Activity
An Assistive Artistic Device Students design and develop a useful assistive device for people challenged by fine motor skill development who cannot grasp and control objects. In the process of designing prototype devices, they learn about the engineering design process and how to use it to solve problems. Activity
Automatic Floor Cleaner Computer Program Challenge Students learn more about assistive devices, specifically biomedical engineering applied to computer engineering concepts, with an engineering challenge to create an automatic floor cleaner computer program. Following the steps of the design process, they design computer programs and test them by pr... Activity
Balsa Towers Students groups use balsa wood and glue to build their own towers using some of the techniques they learned from the associated lesson. Activity
Boat Design Challenge: Journey to the Egyptian Afterlife Student teams are challenged to design models of Egyptian funerary barges for the purpose of transporting mummies through the underworld to the afterlife. Students design and build prototypes using materials and tools like the ancient Egyptians had at their disposal. Activity
Bouncy Ball Factory Students become product engineers in a bouncy ball factory as they design and prototype a polymer bouncy ball that meets specific requirements: must be spherical in shape, cannot disintegrate when thrown on the ground, and must bounce. Maker Challenge
Broken Bones and Biomedical Materials Students are introduced to the concept and steps of the engineering design process and taught how to apply it. In small groups, students learn of their design challenge (improve a cast for a broken arm), brainstorm solutions, are given materials and create prototypes. Activity
Chair Design Students become familiar with the engineering design process as they design, build, and test chair prototypes. Activity
Cleaning the Air In this activity, students undertake a similar engineering challenge as they design and build a filter to remove pepper from an air stream without blocking more than 50% of the air. Activity
Clearing a Path to the Heart Following the steps of the engineering design process and acting as biomedical engineers, student teams use everyday materials to design and develop devices and approaches to unclog blood vessels. Through this open-ended design project, they learn about the circulatory system, biomedical engineering... Activity
Cool Puppy! A Doghouse Design Project Students design and build small doghouses to shelter a (toy) puppy from the heat—and create them within constraints. They apply what they know about light energy and how it travels through various materials, as well as how a material’s color affects its light absorption and reflection. They test the... Maker Challenge
Cooler Design Challenge Students learn about convection, conduction, and radiation in order to solve the challenge of designing and building a small insulated cooler with the goal of keeping an ice cube and a Popsicle from melting. This activity uses the engineering design process to build the cooler as well as to measure ... Activity
Creative Crash Test Cars Students explore how mass affects momentum in head-on collisions and experience the engineering design process as if they are engineers working on the next big safety feature for passenger cars. They design, create and redesign impact-resistant passenger vehicle compartments for small-size model car... Maker Challenge
Design a Carrying Device for People Using Crutches Students are given a biomedical engineering challenge, which they solve while following the steps of the engineering design process. In a design lab environment, student groups design, create and test prototype devices that help people using crutches carry things, such as books and school supplies. Activity
Design Air Racer Cars Using Tinkercad Students build an electric racer vehicle using Tinkercad to design blades for their racers. Students print their designs using a MakerBot printer. Students race their vehicles to see which design travels the furthest distance in the least amount of time. Activity
Design and Build a Rube Goldberg In this two-part activity, students design and build Rube Goldberg machines. This open-ended challenge employs the engineering design process and may have a pre-determined purpose, such as rolling a marble into a cup from a distance, or let students decide the purposes. Activity
Design Your Own Pedometer! Students use the engineering design process to design, create, and test a pedometer that keeps track of the number of steps a person takes. This maker challenge exposes students to basic coding, micro:bit processor applications, and how programming and engineering can be used to solve health problem... Maker Challenge
Designing Polymers to Clean Water Students learn how to engineer a design for a polymer brush—a coating consisting of polymers that represents an antifouling polymer brush coating for a water filtration surface. Activity
Do the Robot! Programming a RedBot to Dance Students program the drive motors of a SparkFun RedBot with a multistep control sequence—a “dance.” Doing this is a great introduction to robotics and improves overall technical literacy by helping students understand that we use programs to control the motion and function of robots, and without the... Maker Challenge
Does It Cut It? Understanding Wind Turbine Blade Performance Students gain an understanding of the factors that affect wind turbine operation. Following the steps of the engineering design process, engineering teams use simple materials (cardboard and wooden dowels) to build and test their own turbine blade prototypes with the objective of maximizing electric... Activity
E.G. Benedict's Ambulance Patient Safety Challenge Students further their understanding of the engineering design process (EDP) while applying researched information on transportation technology, materials science and bioengineering. Students are given a fictional client statement (engineering challenge) and directed to follow the steps of the EDP t... Activity
Engineering in Reverse! Students learn about the process of reverse engineering and how this technique is used to improve upon technology. Students analyze push-toys and draw diagrams of the predicted mechanisms inside the toys. Then, they disassemble the toys and draw the actual inner mechanisms. Activity
Fancy Feet! Stress & Strain Forces in Shoe Design Students use the engineering design process to solve a real-world problem—shoe engineering! Working in small teams, they design, build and test a pair of wearable platform or high-heeled shoes, taking into consideration the stress and strain forces that it will encounter from the shoe wearer. Activity
Follow the Light Students' understanding of how robotic color sensors work is reinforced in a design challenge involving LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robots and light sensors. Working in pairs, students program LEGO robots to follow a flashlight as its light beam moves around. Activity
Hot Cans and Cold Cans Students apply the concepts of conduction, convection and radiation as they work in teams to solve two challenges. One problem requires that they maintain the warm temperature of one soda can filled with water at approximately human body temperature, and the other problem is to cause an identical so... Activity
Hydraulic Arm Challenge Students design and build a mechanical arm that lifts and moves an empty 12-ounce soda can using hydraulics for power. Small design teams (1-2 students each) design and build a single axis for use in the completed mechanical arm. Activity
Just Like Kidneys: Semipermeable Membrane Prototypes Using ordinary classroom materials, students act as biomedical engineering teams challenged to design prototype models that demonstrate semipermeability to help medical students learn about kidney dialysis. A model consists of two layers of a medium separated by material acting as the membrane. Grou... Activity
Keep Your Cool! Design Your Own Cooler Challenge Students brainstorm, design, and build a cooler and monitor its effectiveness to keep a bottle of ice water cold in comparison to a bottle of ice water left at room temperature. Students engage in design by choosing from a range of materials to build their prototype. Maker Challenge
Lending a Hand: Teaching Forces through Assistive Device Design Students learn about how biomedical engineers create assistive devices for persons with fine motor skill disabilities. They do this by designing, building and testing their own hand "gripper" prototypes that are able to grasp and lift a 200 ml cup of sand. Activity
Mars Rover App Creation Based on their experience exploring the Mars rover Curiosity and learning about what engineers must go through to develop a vehicle like Curiosity, students create Android apps that can control LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robots, simulating the difficulties the Curiosity rover could encounter. The activity go... Activity
No Valve in Vain Acting as biomedical engineers, students design, build, test and redesign prototype heart valves using materials such as waterproof tape, plastic tubing, flexible plastic and foam sheets, clay, wire and pipe cleaners. They test them with flowing water, representing blood moving through the heart. Activity
Off-Road Wheelchair Challenge Students further their understanding of the engineering design process (EDP) while being introduced to assistive technology devices and biomedical engineering. They are given a fictional client statement and are tasked to follow the steps of the EDP to design and build small-scale, off-road wheelcha... Activity
Oil: Clean It Up! Student groups create and test oil spill cleanup kits that are inexpensive and accessible for homeowners or for big companies to give to individual workers—to aid in home, community or environmental oil spill cleanup process. Maker Challenge
Operation Build a Bridge and Get Over It Design and construct a bridge for a local city that will have a high strength-to-weight ratio and resist collapse. Have students use their understanding of the engineering design process—and a lot of wooden craft sticks—to achieve their goals. Activity
Paper Drop Design Competition Using paper, paper clips and tape, student teams design flying/falling devices to stay in the air as long as possible and land as close as possible to a given target. Student teams use the steps of the engineering design process to guide them through the initial conception, evaluation, testing and r... Activity
Protect the Pump: Prototyping Designs for Biomedical Devices Students learn how biomedical engineers work with engineers and other professionals to develop dependable medical devices. Student teams brainstorm, sketch, design and create prototypes of suction pump protection devices to keep fluid from backing up and ruining the pump motors. Activity
Protect Your Body, Filter Your Water! Students experience the steps of the engineering design process as they design solutions for a real-world problem that negatively affects the environment. They use plastic tubing and assorted materials such as activated carbon, cotton balls, felt and cloth to create filters with the capability to re... Activity
Sensory Toys Make Sense! Students design and create sensory integration toys for young children with developmental disabilities—an engineering challenge that combines the topics of biomedical engineering, engineering design and human senses. Students learn the steps of the engineering design process (EDP) and how to use it ... Activity
Sled Hockey Design Challenge Students are asked to design a hockey stick for a school’s new sled hockey team. Using the engineering design process, students act as material engineers to create hockey sticks that have different interior structures using multiple materials that can withstand flexure testing. Activity
Solar Sails: The Future of Space Travel Working as if they were engineers, students design and construct model solar sails made of aluminum foil to move cardboard tube satellites through “space” on a string. Working in teams, they follow the engineering design thinking steps—ask, research, imagine, plan, create, test, improve—to design an... Activity
Sounds All Around Students follow the steps of the engineering design process to create their own ear trumpet devices (used before modern-day hearing aids), including testing them with a set of reproducible sounds. Activity
Spaghetti Soapbox Derby Student pairs design, build, and test model vehicles capable of rolling down a ramp and then coasting freely as far as possible. The challenge is to make the vehicles entirely out of dry pasta using only adhesive (such as hot glue) to hold the components together. Activity
Super Slinger Engineering Challenge Students are challenged to design, build and test small-scale launchers while they learn and follow the steps of the engineering design process. For the challenge, the "slingers" must be able to aim and launch Ping-Pong balls 20 feet into a goal using ordinary building materials such as tape, string... Activity
Swiss Alps Emergency Sled Design Students act as engineers to solve a hypothetical problem that has occurred in the Swiss Alps due to a natural seismic disaster. Working in groups, they follow the engineering design process steps to create model sleds that meet the requirements to transport materials to people in distress that live... Activity
The Artificial Bicep Students learn more about how muscles work and how biomedical engineers can help keep the muscular system healthy. Following the engineering design process, they create their own biomedical device to aid in the recovery of a strained bicep. Activity
Three-Tower Types Challenge: Tower Investigation and the Egg In this activity, student groups design and build three types of towers (guyed or cable-supported, free-standing or self-standing, and monopole), engineering them to meet the requirements that they hold an egg one foot high for 15 seconds. Activity
Toxic Island: Designing Devices to Deliver Goods A classic engineering challenge involves designing and building devices that can deliver necessary goods to “Toxic Island.” Working within specific constraints, students design a device that must not touch the water or island, and must deliver supplies accurately and quickly. Maker Challenge
Trebuchet Design & Build Challenge Students work as teams of engineers to design and build their own trebuchets. They research how to build and test their trebuchets, evaluate their results, and present their results and design process to the class. Activity
Using Waits, Loops and Switches Students are given a difficult challenge that requires they integrate what they have learned so far in the unit about wait blocks, loops and switches. They incorporate these tools into their programming of the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robots to perform different tasks depending on input from a sound sensor... Activity
Water Bottle Rockets Students are challenged to design and build rockets from two-liter plastic soda bottles that travel as far and straight as possible or stay aloft as long as possible. Guided by the steps of the engineering design process, students first watch a video that shows rocket launch failures and then partic... Activity
Wear’s the Technology? Students apply their knowledge of scale and geometry to design wearables that would help people in their daily lives, perhaps for medical reasons or convenience. Like engineers, student teams follow the steps of the design process, to research the wearable technology field (watching online videos an... Activity
Wristwatch Design for the Visually Impaired Students further their understanding of the engineering design process while combining mechanical engineering and bio-engineering to create assistive devices. During this extended activity (seven class periods), students are given a fictional client statement and required to follow the steps of the ... Activity
A Zombie Got My Leg Challenge: Making Makeshift Legs Students experience the engineering design process as they design and construct lower-leg prostheses in response to a hypothetical zombie apocalypse scenario. Building on what they learned and researched in the associated lesson, they design and fabricate a replacement prosthetic limb using given sp... Activity
Above-Ground Storage Tank Design Project In this culminating activity, student groups act as engineering design teams to derive equations to determine the stability of specific above-ground storage tank scenarios with given tank specifications and liquid contents. With their flotation analyses completed and the stability determined, studen... Activity
An Implementation of Steganography Students apply the design process to the problem of hiding a message in a digital image using steganographic methods, a PictureEdit Java class, and API (provided as an attachment). They identify the problems and limitations associated with this task, brainstorm solutions, select a solution, and impl... Activity
Android App Development Students develop an app for an Android device that utilizes its built-in internal sensors, specifically the accelerometer. The goal of this activity is to teach programming design and skills using MIT's App Inventor software (free to download from the Internet) as the vehicle for learning. Activity
Augmented Reality Programming Challenge Students explore augmented reality programs, including muscle and bone overlays and body tracking recording program, using Unity and Microsoft Visual Studio and develop ways to modify, enhance, and redesign the program to meet a particular real-world need. Maker Challenge
Balloons Students follow the steps of the engineering design process as they design and construct balloons for aerial surveillance. Applying their newfound knowledge, the young engineers build and test balloons that fly carrying small flip cameras that capture aerial images of their school. Activity
Bio-Engineering: Making and Testing Model Proteins Students learn about human proteins, how their shapes are related to their functions and how DNA protein mutations result in diseases. Then, in a hypothetical engineering scenario, they use common classroom supplies to design and build their own structural, transport and defense protein models to he... Activity
Boom Construction Student teams design their own booms (bridges) and engage in a friendly competition with other teams to test their designs. Each team strives to design a boom that is light, can hold a certain amount of weight, and is affordable to build. Activity
Build Your Own Night-Light with Arduino Students use Arduino microcontrollers and light-sensitive resistors (photocells) to sense the ambient light levels in a room and turn LEDs on and off based on those readings. They are challenged to personalize their basic night-lights with the use of more LEDs, if/else statements and voltage divider... Maker Challenge
Building Arduino Light Sculptures Students gain practice in Arduino fundamentals as they design their own small-sized prototype light sculptures to light up a hypothetical courtyard. They program Arduino microcontrollers to control the lighting behavior of at least three light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to create imaginative light displ... Maker Challenge
Control a Servo with Your Phone Using Bluetooth! Students learn how to control an Arduino servo wirelessly using a simple phone application, Bluetooth module and an Android phone. This prepares them to wirelessly control their own projects. Maker Challenge
Convertible Shoes: Function, Fashion and Design Student teams design and build shoe prototypes that convert between high heels and athletic shoes. They apply their knowledge about the mechanics of walking and running as well as shoe design (as learned in the associated lesson) to design a multifunctional shoe that is both fashionable and function... Activity
Create and Control a Popsicle Stick Finger Robot Students use servos and flex sensors to make simple, one-jointed, finger robots. They use Arduino microcontrollers, create circuits and write code to read finger flexes and send angle info to servos. They explore the constrain, map and smoothing commands. Can teams combine fingers to create an entir... Maker Challenge
Creating Mini Wastewater Treatment Plants Student teams design, construct, test and improve small working models of water treatment plant processes to filter out contaminants and reclaim resources from simulated wastewater. They keep to a materials budget and earn money from reclaimed materials. They conduct before/after water quality tests... Activity
Design a Bicycle Helmet Students are introduced to the biomechanical characteristics of helmets, and are challenged to incorporate them into designs for helmets used for various applications. Activity
Design Your Own Nano-Polymer Smartphone Case Students design and create their own nano-polymer smartphone case. Students choose their design, mix their nano-polymer (based in silicone) with starch and add coloring of their choice. While students think critically about their design, they embed strings in the nano-polymer material to optimize bo... Maker Challenge
Designing a Robotic Surgical Device Student teams create laparoscopic surgical robots designed to reduce the invasiveness of diagnosing endometriosis and investigate how the disease forms and spreads. Using a synthetic abdominal cavity simulator, students test and iterate their remotely controlled, camera-toting prototype devices, whi... Activity
Designing an Elliptical Pool Table Students learn about the mathematical characteristics and reflective property of ellipses by building their own elliptical-shaped pool tables. After a slide presentation introduction to ellipses, student “engineering teams” follow the steps of the engineering design process to develop prototypes, wh... Activity
Does My Model Valve Stack up to the Real Thing? Following the steps of the iterative engineering design process, student teams use what they learned in the previous lessons and activity in this unit to research and choose materials for their model heart valves and test those materials to compare their properties to known properties of real heart ... Activity
Energy Storage Derby and Proposal Students design, build and test small-sized vehicle prototypes that transfer various types of potential energy into motion. To complete the Go Public phase of the legacy cycle, students demonstrate their understanding of how potential energy may be transferred into kinetic energy. Activity
Engineering Self-Cleaning Hydrophobic Surfaces Students explore how to modify surfaces such as wood or cotton fabric at the nanoscale. They create specialized materials with features such as waterproofing and stain resistance. The challenge starts with student teams identifying an intended user and developing scenarios for using their developed ... Maker Challenge
Exploiting Polarization: Designing More Effective Sunglasses Students apply their understanding of light polarization and attenuation to design, fabricate, test and refine their own prototype sunglasses that better reduce glare and lower light intensity compared to available sunglasses, and better protect eyes from UVA and UVB radiation. They meet the project... Activity
Flying T-Shirts During this engineering design/build project, students investigate many different solutions to a problem. Their design challenge is to find a way to get school t-shirts up into the stands during home sporting events. They follow the steps of the engineering design process to design and build a usabl... Activity
Having a Ball with Chemistry and Engineering Students work as materials and chemical engineers to develop a bouncy ball using a select number of materials. They develop a plan of what materials they might need to design their product, and then create, test, and evaluate their bouncy ball. Maker Challenge
Heat Flow and Diagrams Lab Student pairs design, redesign and perform simple experiments to test the differences in thermal conductivity (heat flow) through different media (foil and thin steel). Then students create visual diagrams of their findings that can be understood by anyone with little background on the subject, appl... Activity
How to Design a Better Smartphone Case Students follow the steps of the engineering design process to design an improved smartphone case. As if they are materials engineers, they evaluate how to build a smartphone case and study physical properties, chemical properties, and tessellations. They analyze materials, design and improve a prot... Activity
Inquiry and Engineering: Gliders Student teams design, build and test small-sized gliders to maximize flight distance and an aerodynamic ratio, applying their knowledge of fluid dynamics to its role in flight. Students experience the entire engineering design process, from brainstorming to CAD (or by hand) drafting, including resea... Activity
Introduction to Arduino: Getting Connected and Blinking LEDs Students learn how to connect Arduino microcontroller boards to computers and write basic code to blink LEDs. Provided steps guide students through the connection process, troubleshooting common pitfalls and writing their first Arduino programs. Then they independently write their own code to blink ... Maker Challenge
Make a Sticky-Note Fan with Arduino Students control small electric motors using Arduino microcontrollers to make little spinning fans made with folded and glued paper sticky notes. They build basic circuits and modify code, before applying the principles to create their own more-complicated motor-controlled projects. Advanced project... Maker Challenge
Making Dirty Water Drinkable! Students create a water bottle from common materials used in purification tools that can clean dirty water as an inexpensive alternative to a modern filter. Students may iterate upon their design based off their experiment and the designs of their classmates after initial testing. Maker Challenge
Making Sense of Sensors: Visualizing Sensor Data Students take on the challenge of assembling a light sensor circuit in order to observe its readings using the Arduino Serial Monitor. They also create their own unique visualization through software called Processing. They learn how to use calibration and smoothing along the way to capture a better... Maker Challenge
Measure the Milky Way with Stars Students investigate Python and Jupyter Notebook to analyze real astronomical images in order to calculate the interstellar distance to a star cluster across the Milky Way from our own Solar System. They learn how to write Python code that runs in a Jupyter Notebook so they can determine the brightn... Maker Challenge
Mouse Trap Racing in the Computer Age! Students design, build and evaluate a spring-powered mouse trap racer. For evaluation, teams equip their racers with an intelligent brick from a LEGO© MINDSTORMS© EV3 Education Core Set and a HiTechnic© acceleration sensor. Activity
Out-of-the Box: A Furniture Design + Engineering Challenge Student teams follow the steps of the engineering design process as they design and build architecturally inspired cardboard furniture. Given a list of constraints, including limited fabrication materials and tools, groups research architectural styles, brainstorm ideas, make small-scale quick proto... Maker Challenge
Packed for Shipping: Using Linear Regression in Engineering Design Students apply their knowledge of linear regression and design to solve a real-world challenge to create a better packing solution for shipping cell phones. They make composite material packaging containers using cardboard, fabric, plastic, paper and/or rubber bands to create four different-weight p... Activity
Power Your House with Wind Students learn how engineers harness the energy of the wind to produce power by following the engineering design process as they prototype two types of wind turbines and test to see which works best. Students also learn how engineers decide where to place wind turbines, and the advantages and disadv... Activity
Proof of Concept: Miracle Drug Encapsulation Students experience the engineering design process as they design, fabricate, test and redesign their own methods for encapsulation of a (hypothetical) new miracle drug. The objective is to delay the drug release by a certain time and have a long release duration—patterned after the timed release re... Activity
Pump It! Design-Build-Test Helpful Village Water Pumps In this hands-on activity, student groups design, build, test and improve devices to pump water as if they were engineers helping a rural village meet their drinking water supply. Students keep track of their materials costs, and calculate power and cost efficiencies of the prototype pumps. Activity
Redesigning a Classroom for the Visually Impaired Students practice human-centered design by imagining, designing and prototyping a product to improve classroom accessibility for the visually impaired. Student teams follow the steps of the engineering design process to formulate their ideas, draw them by hand and using free, online Tinkercad softwa... Activity
RGB Color Mixing Students write Arduino code and use a “digital sandbox” to create new colors out of the three programming primary colors: green, red and blue. They develop their own functions, use them to make disco light shows, and vary the pattern and colors of their shows. Maker Challenge
Shantytown Construction Redesign Student teams each design, build and test a composite material for use as a concrete building block for shantytown use. The design challenge constraints include: using inexpensive and readily available materials, chemically resistant, physically durable, cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing. Th... Activity
Simple Machines and the Rube Goldberg Challenge Students research and learn about simple machines and other mechanisms through learning about a Rube Goldberg machine. Student teams design and build their own Rube Goldberg devices that incorporate at least six simple machines. This project is open-ended with much potential for creativity and fun. Maker Challenge
Solar Water: Heat it Up! Students explore energy efficiency, focusing on renewable energy, by designing and building flat-plate solar water heaters. They calculate the efficiency of the solar water heaters during initial and final tests and compare the efficiencies to those of models currently sold on the market (requiring ... Activity
Splash, Pop, Fizz: Rube Goldberg Machines Refreshed with an understanding of the six simple machines; screw, wedge, pully, incline plane, wheel and axle, and lever, student groups receive materials and an allotted amount of time to act as mechanical engineers to design and create machines that can complete specified tasks. Activity
Stop the Flopping: Designing Soccer Shin Guards Students engineer a working pair of shin guards for soccer or similar contact sport from everyday materials. Since many factors go into the design of a shin guard, students follow the engineering design process to create a prototype. Maker Challenge
Storing Android Accelerometer Data: App Design Students work through an online tutorial on MIT's App Inventor to learn how to create Android applications. Using those skills, they create their own applications and use them to collect data from an Android device accelerometer and store that data to databases. Lesson
The Glow Show Slime Engineering Challenge Students learn about the engineering design process and how products may be reinvented to serve new purposes. Working in groups, students design a type of slime. After creating their slime, the teacher turns out the lights and the students see that the slime they made actually glows in the dark! Maker Challenge
The Lunch-Bot Students are challenged to design and program Arduino-controlled robots that behave like simple versions of the automated guided vehicles engineers design for real-world applications. Using Arduino microcontroller boards, infrared (IR) sensors, servomotors, attachable wheels and plastic containers (... Activity
The Power of Food Students imagine they are stranded on an island and must create the brightest light possible with the meager supplies they have on hand in order to gain the attention of a rescue airplane. In small groups, students create circuits using items in their "survival kits" to create maximum voltage, measu... Activity
Truss Destruction Students work within constraints to construct model trusses and then test them to failure as a way to evaluate the relative strength of different truss configurations and construction styles. Within each group, each student builds two exact copies of the team's truss configuration using his/her own ... Activity
T-Shirt Launcher Students are challenged to find a way to get school t-shirts up into the stands during sporting events. They work with a real client (if possible, such as a cheerleading squad, booster club or band) to determine the requirements and constraints that would make the project a success, including a budg... Maker Challenge
Visualize Your Heartbeat Biomedical engineers design, create, and test health technology that measure all sorts of physical functions in the body, including heartbeat. Students play the role of biomedical engineers in this activity and create a device that helps visualize heartbeats. Maker Challenge
Whatever Floats Your Boat! Students use a variety of common office and household supplies to design a boat. Their goal: to not only design the fastest boat, but also take into account how much mass or “cargo” the boat can carry, the stability of the boat in the water, the total mass of the boat, boat aesthetics, and how much ... Maker Challenge
Wind Chimes Students are challenged to design and build wind chimes using their knowledge of physics and sound waves, and under given constraints such as weight, cost and number of musical notes it must generate. Activity
Wirelessly Control Lights and Motors Using XBee Communication! Students learn how to send signals (such as from buttons or sensors) from one system to another using XBee radio communication modules. By activity end, they are able to control LEDs and motors wirelessly using Arduino microcontrollers and XBee shields. Introduces the concept of the Internet of thin... Maker Challenge More Popular Topics to explore What is the first step of the engineering design process?The first phase is defining the problem. This is when engineers figure out the exact requirements for the problem they are trying to solve. During the second phase, engineers develop possible solutions.
What are some questions about the engineering design process?Engineering Design Process Questions. ... . What problem in your community will your team attempt to solve using the engineering design process? ... . What MUST be a part of your solution? ... . Explain how you tested your prototype or model. ... . What conclusions can you draw based on the data you gathered during your tests?. What are the 5 steps of the engineering design process?Steps in the Engineering Design Process. Step 1: State the Problem. What is the problem that needs to be solved?. Step 2: Generate Ideas. Where can information be found related to the problem? ... . Step 3: Plan and Select a Solution. ... . Step 4: Build the Item. ... . Step 5: Evaluate. ... . Step 6: Present the Results.. Is the first step in basic design procedure answer?Expert-Verified Answer
Engineering Design Loop: The steps of the design process include: identify the need, research the problem, develop possible solutions, select the most promising solution, construct a prototype, test and evaluate the prototype, communicate the design, and redesign.
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What question is being answered in the first step of the engineering design process?
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