Start Here

Main Bundle Page
Ultimate Maker Space STEM Bundle

Best Teacher Landing Page
3DuxDesign for Educators

Quick Activities/Tutorials
Challenge Card Tutorials

Basic Design Challenges
3DuxUniversity Basic Design Challenges (free login required)

New Teacher Starter Page
3Dux Newbies Lesson Plans 2025 (free login required)

Video Tutorials
3DuxDesign YouTube Channel

What Is 3DuxDesign?

3DuxDesign is a hands-on STEAM, design thinking, and project-based learning system built around reusable connectors, cardboard forms, and open-ended building challenges. Students design, build, test, revise, and explain their thinking using cardboard, connectors, craft materials, simple machines, circuits, bots, and renewable energy components.

The goal is not a “perfect” finished product. The goal is student thinking: creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, engineering design, measurement, communication, and revision.

Big Teacher Mindset Shift

Do not think: “I have to teach engineering perfectly.”

DO Think: “I am giving students a problem, materials, time to build, and time to explain how they solved it.”

Your job is to facilitate, ask questions, keep students safe, and help them reflect.

The Easiest Way to Start

First 10 minutes: Let them explore

Give each group a few connectors, cardboard pieces, and a simple prompt:

“Build the tallest free-standing structure you can in 8 minutes.”

Do not over-explain. Let students discover how the connectors work.

Helpful support: 3Dux Newbies Lesson Plans 2025

Next 10 minutes: Add a constraint

Try one of these:

·      It must hold a book.

·      It must include a triangle.

·      It must have a door or opening.

·      It must survive a gentle table shake.

·      It must use only 10 connectors.

·      It must connect to another group’s structure.

Helpful support: Basic Design Challenges

Final 10 minutes: Reflect

Ask:

·      What worked?

·      What failed?

·      What did your group change?

·      What would you improve with five more minutes?

·      Where did you use math, science, art, or engineering?

Suggested First Lesson: “Build, Test, Improve”

Time: 30–45 minutes
Grades: Adaptable for elementary through middle school
Materials: GoBox connectors, cardboard pieces, rulers, optional craft materials

Challenge:
Design a structure that can stand on its own and meet one teacher-selected requirement.

Choose one:

·      Tallest tower

·      Strongest bridge

·      Animal shelter

·      Tiny house

·      Community building

·      Playground structure

·      Wind-safe shelter

·      Theme park ride

Simple lesson flow:

1.        Ask: What are we trying to solve or build?

2.        Imagine: Sketch or talk through ideas.

3.        Build: Create a first version.

4.        Test: Does it meet the goal?

5.        Improve: Change one thing and test again.

6.        Share: Explain your design choices.

Helpful support: Challenge Card Tutorials

Classroom Management Tips

Use teams of 2–4. Bigger groups often lead to one builder and several watchers.

Assign roles. Rotate roles every 10–15 minutes:

·      Builder

·      Materials manager

·      Tester

·      Recorder/sketcher

·      Presenter

Limit materials at first. Too many materials can overwhelm students. Start with connectors and cardboard, then add LEDs, bots, or energy kits later.

Use a cleanup signal. Give a 5-minute warning and a 2-minute warning.

Create a “parking lot” for unfinished builds. Use trays, boxes, or labeled table spaces if students will continue later.

Do not rescue too quickly. When a structure fails, say, “Great. Now we have data.”

Easy Teacher Questions to Ask While Students Build

Use these instead of giving answers:

·      What problem are you trying to solve?

·      What part of your design is strongest?

·      What part is weakest?

·      How do you know it works?

·      What did you test?

·      What did you change?

·      What shapes are giving your structure strength?

·      Where could you add support?

·      How is your design connected to the real world?

·      What would you do differently next time?

Quick Differentiation

For students who need support

·      Give a picture example.

·      Start with a partner build.

·      Limit the number of materials.

·      Give a sentence frame: “Our design works because…”

·      Let students orally explain instead of writing.

For students who need challenge

·      Add a budget: “Each connector costs $10.”

·      Require measurement and scale.

·      Add environmental conditions: wind, flood, heat, limited space.

·      Require a redesign after testing.

·      Add a client: “Design for a wheelchair user,” “Design for a desert climate,” or “Design for endangered animals.”

·      Require a written pitch or blueprint.

Best Bundle Components to Use by Comfort Level

Level 1: Brand new teacher

Use: GoBox Classroom Kits
Try: Towers, bridges, habitats, tiny houses, playgrounds, community buildings
Focus: Teamwork, design, shapes, stability, communication
Helpful link: 3Dux Newbies Lesson Plans 2025

Level 2: Comfortable with basic building

Use: Machine Maker Kit
Try: Pulley systems, levers, moving playground equipment, ski lifts, farm machines, zoo enrichment tools
Focus: Simple machines, cause/effect, force, motion
Helpful link: Monster Mountain Challenge Tutorial

Level 3: Ready for circuits

Use: LED Lighting Kit
Try: Light-up houses, warning signals, community streetlights, museum displays
Focus: Circuits, switches, troubleshooting, energy flow
Helpful video: 3DuxDesign YouTube Channel

Level 4: Ready for motion

Use: Build-a-Bot Kit
Try: Animal bots, Mars/planet rovers, moving creatures, bot obstacle courses
Focus: Vibration motors, design iteration, movement, balance
Helpful link: Challenge Card Tutorials

Level 5: Ready for advanced STEAM

Use: Renewable Energy Kit
Try: Solar towns, wind-powered communities, sustainable homes, energy-efficient school redesigns
Focus: Renewable energy, systems thinking, sustainability, data collection
Helpful link: 3DuxDesign for Educators

Ready-to-Use Online 3DuxDesign Resources

1. 3DuxDesign for Educators

Open resource

Best starting place for teachers. It explains how the system supports K–12 project-based learning, including quick 20–60 minute challenges, longer standards-aligned lessons, and larger curriculum projects.

2. Challenge Card Tutorials

Open resource

Great for brand-new teachers. These are low-prep challenges that can be completed in one class period and include short tutorial videos and extension ideas.

Helpful challenges listed there include:

·      Monster Mountain: build a monster-themed playground using simple machines

·      Homes and Habitats: design shelters connected to climate, materials, culture, and sustainability

·      Planet Pioneers: design a self-sustaining extraterrestrial colony

·      Beastie Biomes: reverse-engineer a habitat based on creature traits

3. Basic Design Challenges

Open resource

Useful for teachers who want quick, open-ended projects that work well in classrooms, media centers, afterschool programs, and makerspaces.

4. 3Dux Newbies Lesson Plans 2025

Open resource

Best for teachers who are nervous or starting from zero. Includes a quick tutorial and basic warmup activities to set students up for success.

5. School and District Resources

Open resource

Useful for administrators, instructional coaches, or teachers who want the bigger picture. This page describes 3DuxDesign as a hands-on, reusable, low-barrier tool with facilitator guides, video tutorials, student guides, worksheets, templates, and professional development options.

6. 3DuxDesign YouTube Channel

Open videos

Useful when teachers want to see activities in action. Videos include tutorials for STEM Starters, Beastie Biome, Planet Pioneers, Monster Mountain, LED circuits, access pass navigation, and other project ideas.

7. Access Pass Tutorial

Open video

Helpful if your teachers need support finding the online lessons and navigating the 3DuxDesign curriculum resources.

Easy Starter Challenge Menu

Choose one based on grade level and time.

15–20 minutes

Connector Exploration
Build anything that stands. Then explain how the connectors work.
Helpful link: 3Dux Newbies Lesson Plans 2025

30 minutes

Tallest Tower
Build the tallest structure that can stand for 10 seconds.
Helpful link: Basic Design Challenges

30–45 minutes

Animal Habitat
Design a shelter for an animal with three survival needs: food, water, protection.
Helpful link: Challenge Card Tutorials

45–60 minutes

Bridge Challenge
Build a bridge that spans a gap and holds weight.
Helpful link: Basic Design Challenges

60 minutes

Tiny House Village
Design a tiny home for a specific client and connect homes into a community.
Helpful link: 3DuxDesign for Educators

60–90 minutes

Simple Machine Playground
Use the Machine Maker Kit to create a playground with at least one lever, pulley, ramp, or moving part.
Helpful link: Challenge Card Tutorials

90+ minutes

Sustainable Community
Use buildings, lights, wind, or solar components to design a community that solves an energy or environmental challenge.
Helpful link: 3DuxDesign for Educators

What to Say to Students Before They Start

“Today is not about making something perfect. It is about thinking like designers. Designers try ideas, test them, fail, make changes, and explain their decisions. If your first idea does not work, that means the project is working.”

Simple Student Reflection

Have students finish one or more of these:

·      Our design solved the problem by…

·      The hardest part was…

·      We changed our design when…

·      One thing we tested was…

·      One thing we learned about engineering was…

·      If we had more time, we would…

·      Our group worked well when…

Common Problems and Quick Fixes

Problem: Students build without a plan.
Fix: Require a 2-minute sketch before materials.

Problem: Students argue over ideas.
Fix: Use “build both, test both, choose what works.”

Problem: One student takes over.
Fix: Assign and rotate roles.

Problem: Structures collapse.
Fix: Ask about base size, triangles, supports, and balance.

Problem: Cleanup takes too long.
Fix: Sort materials by type and assign a materials manager.

Problem: Students say, “I’m done.”
Fix: Add a constraint: make it stronger, taller, safer, more accessible, more beautiful, more sustainable, or easier to explain.

Best First-Day Teacher Script

“Your group will get a small set of materials. Your first job is to figure out how the pieces connect. Then you’ll build a structure that stands on its own. After that, I’ll give you a challenge to improve it. I’m not looking for perfect designs. I’m looking for teamwork, testing, and smart changes.”

Safety Reminders

·      The bundle contains small parts and batteries; it is labeled as a choking hazard for ages 3+.

·      Keep batteries, motors, conductive tape, and small parts organized and supervised.

·      Do not let students put materials in mouths.

·      Use extra caution with younger students and any take-home kits.

·      Check that battery packs and wires are handled gently.

·      Collect all electronic parts before students leave.

The Simplest Success Criteria

A good 3DuxDesign lesson has students:

1.        Build something.

2.        Test something.

3.        Improve something.

4.        Explain something.

That is enough for a strong first lesson.