Summary
Walks through the full engineering design cycle — define, research, brainstorm, prototype, test, evaluate, and iterate — with an emphasis on the fact that failure is a normal and necessary part of engineering.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
- List the steps of the engineering design process in order.
- Why is testing so important — why not just build the best design and be done?
- What does 'iterate' mean, and why would an engineer iterate rather than give up?
- Have you ever gone through an informal version of the engineering process? Describe it.
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: prototype, test, iterate, evaluate, design cycle, failure.
Try it: Give each pair a limited set of materials (index cards, tape, paper clips) and challenge them to build the tallest freestanding tower in five minutes. Then improve it for two more minutes. What changed in your second design?