Reverse Engineering involves deconstructing a finished product or system to understand its components, design, and functionality. The goal is to learn how it was made in order to improve the original design, create a compatible product, or discover new manufacturing techniques. Students will present their deconstructed product and explanation on a tri-fold poster.

This category focuses on the exploration of problem solving in the physical world. The project creator must learn or define how something works. The category is specifically focused on physical devices and products. The projects in this category must describe what problem is being solved. They must also show how the project’s device solves the problem. A Reverse Engineering project will have enough complexity to allow the student to gain an understanding of how something works, in detail, without being overwhelming. In the process of understanding how something works, different, maybe better, means of accomplishing that job may be discovered.

Checklist and Rubric

Resources

Teach Engineering: Reverse Engineering Project: Disassemble, Sketch & Recap - lesson plan with resources that can be modified/used

Teach Engineering: Engineering in Reverse

Reverse Engineering Worksheets

Reverse Engineering Presentation - guides students through a full project example using a retractable ball point pen.

Examples