Engineering Design Challenges
This page is simply a collection of resources that I have used to get students to apply the engineering design process in my classroom. In many cases, I am not the original author/creator; I have simply adapted them for use in my classroom.
For each activity, I typically follow a specific process (see timeline attached below). This process requires both individual and group work, and can take two 45-minute class periods, if you choose to do both parts. It is important that students do not work ahead on the worksheet. I find that younger students, in particular, are prone to rush through this process without thinking deeply about the problem - if students work ahead, I take their paper and cut it off at the section that they are supposed to be working on, then give a new blank sheet for the rest. I also emphasize that students need to think carefully about the design process because they will not be given additional materials or time for construction, so they need to plan carefully.
For each activity, I typically follow a specific process (see timeline attached below). This process requires both individual and group work, and can take two 45-minute class periods, if you choose to do both parts. It is important that students do not work ahead on the worksheet. I find that younger students, in particular, are prone to rush through this process without thinking deeply about the problem - if students work ahead, I take their paper and cut it off at the section that they are supposed to be working on, then give a new blank sheet for the rest. I also emphasize that students need to think carefully about the design process because they will not be given additional materials or time for construction, so they need to plan carefully.
timeline_for_design_challenge_class.docx | |
File Size: | 16 kb |
File Type: | docx |
design_challenge_planning_sheet.pptx | |
File Size: | 207 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
Updated Worksheet - engineering_design_challenge__1_.pdf | |
File Size: | 25 kb |
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Football Helmet Egg Drop
So, this is my new brainchild... a twist on the old egg drop to go with the Nebraska Science Standard SC.HS.1.1.C (PS2-3). I plan to introduce the unit with an interview with the doctor behind the movie Concussion, then have the kids design a football helmet to fit an egg, which we will drop from the top of the bleachers. Then, we will shine a flashlight through the egg to see whether the brain has been scrambled (if it's yellow, it's fine; if it's red, the yolk broke) - obviously, I'm hoping it either breaks or is scrambled for the first try. Next, they analyze their failures to improve their design and retest. Pictures will follow, after we try this out.
Bridging the Gap
On day one, students design a bridge that spans 30 cm and holds 20 pennies. On day two, they identify specific improvements to their structure, so that it spans 30 cm and holds 50 pennies.
Materials (28 groups of 3 or 4 students):
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Marshmallow Tower
Students are tasked with building the tallest structure possible that supports the marshmallow at the top (they may not break the marshmallow into pieces).
Materials:
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Build A Boat (Hope It Floats)
Students were tasked with building a boat out of the various supplies listed below, which would hold at least 20 pennies without sinking. The twist here is that each group must measure their materials carefully and take only what they need, since they have to 'pay' for their materials.
Here is the original assignment that I found on the web. https://sciencewithoutspectators.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/build-a-boat-first-day.pptx Materials:
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Toothpick Towers
Students were tasked with building the tallest possible tower (minimum 20 cm) out of only toothpicks and modeling clay (some versions use marshmallows instead of clay, but I liked the added difficulty associated with the extra weight).
Materials:
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Playing Card Bridge
Ball Launcher Challenge
This is actually from Science Buddies, but I loved doing it with my students. They do the Fluor Engineering Challenge every year and this was the challenge a couple of years ago. I put it at the end of my unit on projectile motion.
Here's the website: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/ApMech_p052/build-ball-launcher#materials
Here's the website: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/ApMech_p052/build-ball-launcher#materials
Egg Drop Challenge
Not your everyday egg drop... This activity, from instructure.com, has a prescribed set of materials for students to use, which I liked because my students were a little cocky at first: one said, "My Egg Drop Device won first place in the fourth grade, so this is already in the bag." I put this at the end of my unit on 1-D motion and had them calculate the force with which their apparatus hit the ground.
2015_egg_drop_supply_list.pdf | |
File Size: | 308 kb |
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Balloon Powered Cars
I did this with my 9th grade physical science class and it was loads of fun. I used the activity on the Science Buddies website: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Phys_p099/physics/balloon-powered-car-challenge
I did this at the end of my unit on motion. After students built their cars, we tested them in a long straight hallway and measured the time it took their car to travel 5 m. Then, students had to calculate the final velocity and average acceleration for their car.
I also offered bonus points for the group whose car traveled the farthest distance, drove the straightest path, and most creative design (decided by class vote).
Pro Tip: Don't let the kids hot glue the CDs you lend them for wheels, use some kind of foam or something so that you get them back.
I did this at the end of my unit on motion. After students built their cars, we tested them in a long straight hallway and measured the time it took their car to travel 5 m. Then, students had to calculate the final velocity and average acceleration for their car.
I also offered bonus points for the group whose car traveled the farthest distance, drove the straightest path, and most creative design (decided by class vote).
Pro Tip: Don't let the kids hot glue the CDs you lend them for wheels, use some kind of foam or something so that you get them back.
Rube Goldberg Machine - National Competition
- Physical Science or Physics (any grades)
- Students design and build a machine that will take 10 steps or more, and at least 3 types of energy (6 for extra credit - chemical, electrical, mechanical, etc) to complete a simple task. I do this in my unit about momentum and energy conservation and require students to measure momentum before and after a collision to discuss momentum conservation in a closed system.
Fluor Design Challenge - National Competition
- Content depends on the annual challenge, but usually physical science (any grades)
- I usually set up my own minimum criteria for students in class, but if they complete the national criteria, we document and enter their project for the national competition
NASA Water Filters
- Chemistry or Environmental Science (MS, HS)
- Students use various materials to filter water. I make a slurry of dirt, grass, vinegar, tap water, food coloring, sand, etc. We have an objective judge (usually an administrator) come in to test our filters (unmarked) in categories of color, conductivity, and pH. Sometimes I make one too (if I have time) and compete against the students for extra credit points.
Protein Folding
I don't have link for this one - got it at Women In Science Conference 2023 at University of Nebraska - Lincoln
- Biology or Life Science (MS or HS)
- Students use 30 cm of tape, 10 sheets of paper, scissors and rulers (scissors and rulers may not be part of the structure) to develop a protein that will hold 5 books at least 3 cm above the table.
- This is a great activity when discussing how structures of proteins determine their function, and how intermolecular forces facilitate folding
- Extension opportunity - if students have learned about Protein Synthesis and Mutations, you could have students predict how mutations to the DNA might affect the structure they built and the effect on functionality.
Volleyball Machine
- Physical Science or Physics (upper Elementary through HS)
- Students construct a machine that will launch a ball over a ‘net’ and return the ball to the launcher. Student success is measured by the reliability of the machine - how many times can the machine launch (and return) the ball without students needing to touch the ball?
Spaghetti Towers
- Physics (any grades)
- Students use 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 m of tape, 1 m of string, 1 regular sized marshmallow to construct a tower that will hold a marshmallow at the top - measure to the top of the marshmallow to determine success. I use this with my physics students to discuss balanced forces.
MIT Balloon Tower Challenge
- Physics, Physical Science (upper elementary through high school)
- Each group needs at least one person who can inflate and tie balloons
- I have used this as a beginning of the year activity to teach students how to use the engineering design worksheet
Balloon Cars
- Physics, Physical Science (upper elementary through high school)
- Students build a car powered by a balloon and measure success based on how far it propels itself unaided - I usually do multiple rounds of design and testing to optimize the car (students learn the importance of aligning the wheels, and keeping the balloon from acting like a braking system)
Cart Smash
- Physics, Physical Science (Upper elementary through high school)
- I got this project from the teachers at Grand Island Senior High in Grand Island, NE.
- Through this project, students demonstrate an understanding of Newton's laws and the transformation from potential to kinetic energy. Students crash a cart into a barrier, then iteratively build and test different ways to reduce the forces on the cart during the crash and to hold a passenger on the cart. Generally, students add seat belts, crumple zones, air bags, etc.
- In lower grades, or with a low budget, students can design their own cars. In high school, I used my physics carts and motion sensors. Then, students calculate the forces using N2L and discuss whether they actually reduced the forces.
- For the ‘passenger’, I use a clear film canister and add ⅓ canister of water, ⅓ canister of vegetable oil, and a few drops of food coloring. This allows students to determine whether the forces on the ‘passenger’ were harmful.
Bubble Towers
- Biology, Physical Science, Chemistry (upper elementary through high school)
- Inspired, in part, by playing with my own young kids, but also by my Science Methods Course
- Students develop their own solutions and bubble blowing devices. This project fits in with a discussion of intermolecular forces, as well as structure and properties of matter. Students discover that smaller foamier bubbles are easier to ‘stack’. I have students start with a simple bubble solution and a straw. Then, they can modify the bubble blowing device by changing the size (different straws or cups) or adding fabric (gauze, cheese cloth, felt, cotton fabric, fleece). Next, they can modify the recipe of the bubble solution one ingredient at a time to determine the best recipe. Ingredient options: shaving cream, dish soap, glycerin, salt, sugar, water, shampoo, etc.
- To get a biology spin, you can talk about how the surface area to volume ratio affects the ability to construct the organism