Engineering Design

Engineering Design How To

Choice #2 - Engineering Design & Build

Engineering Design is an iterative process, which means that you will likely go back and forth between steps multiple times before arriving at a design concept that achieves your goal.   We highly recommend reviewing the flowchart from sciencebuddies.org that we have attached at the end of this document.   Not all projects will fit a strict format; go with what works best for your specific situation.  What follows below is a blend of materials that are used within the school district as part of the engineering design curriculum. 

Define Your Problem

• Describe the problem that you are trying to solve

I am designing ___________________________ for _________________ that will __________________ and will ________________.

• Describe your criteria for success

The solution must ___________________________ and _________________that will ___________________ and will _______________.

• Describe any constraints your solution might have

We only have ___________________________ and _________________  available to us.

Research & Brainstorming 

• Think about what you already know that helps you build a solution.

I know that ________________________ and so I realize that my solution will need to_____________________________.

Something else I know or understand is that _____________ therefore, my solution will _______________.

• Think about how you will test how well your prototype achieves your goal by creating a test plan.

Sketch some prototypes.  

Build, Tinker, Revise 

• Gather the materials you will need 

• Build, investigate and revise

• Repeat as needed!

Evaluate and Test

• Did you get what you wanted?  

Future Work 

• If you kept working on this, what might you change to make it better?

• Would you research anything new?

Engineering Design Process via sciencebuddies.org

Engineering Design Project Display Board

Once you have completed your experiment, you will create a project display board to communicate your work to others. Please see example below.