Students are introduced to the design-thinking process using a compelling video clip from the movie The Martian and this video of how NASA is growing plants in space which connects this learning to a Botanist career. Explain to students that real-world engineers use a design process to create engineering designs such as cars, rockets, computers, and even gardens!

Get students excited by being designers and engineers by sharing the following resources on the Engineering Design Process:

https://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/workshop/process.html

https://youtu.be/fxJWin195kU

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhz12vamHOnZ4ZDC0dS6C9HRN5Qrm0jHO

https://www.brainpop.com/science/scientificinquiry/engineeringdesignprocess/.

NGSS Engineering Design: Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones to increase their benefits, decrease known risks, and meet societal demands (3-5-ETS1-2). People’s needs and wants change over time, as make their demands for new and improved technologies (3- 5-ETS1-1).

Students are tasked to plan how best to make use of the garden space in their community to feed the homeless. If astronauts and scientists can grow vegetables in space, we certainly can grow our own on Earth using the resources we have in abundance!

Give the students their challenge: Students’ mission on Earth is to design a garden to feed the homeless. As with most design projects, there are “constraints.” Students learn that most design challenges come with certain limitations, and this garden challenge is not an exception.

Here are the constraints:

• The plan must include all the edible plants planted in the garden.

• The plan must have the method and design for irrigation.

• It should fit the garden space allocated by the community.

• The materials needed to make the garden must fit the budget of $1000.

Rubric for the STEAM challenge

NGSS Engineering Design: Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the design problem (3-5-ETS1-2).

To design a blueprint or a 3D model of their garden, students must first measure the space allocated for their garden.

Maths: Students measure the perimeter and compute the area for the garden. Use graph paper to create a blueprint of the garden to scale. This is an activity students can do to practice drawing to scale.

Engineering and Technology: Based on their research (for example visiting garden centers and markets, reading the information from seed packets, and interviews with the gardeners), what vegetables should they plant and in what rows? Include this information in their blueprint, which they can design using a virtual garden planner APP.

NGSS Engineering Design: Research on a problem should be carried out before beginning to design a solution. Testing a solution involves investigating how well it performs under likely conditions (3-5-ETS1-2). At whatever stage, communicating with peers about proposed solutions is an important part of the design process, and shared ideas can lead to improved designs (3-5-ETS1-2). Tests are often designed to identify failure points or difficulties, which suggest the design elements that need to be improved (3-5-ETS1-3).

Part of being a designer and engineer is reflecting on your build to see how it can be improved. Students can reflect on their thinking and processes and identify how to make their designs better. Reflection prompts.

NGSS Engineering Design: Tests are often designed to identify failure points or difficulties, which suggest the design elements that need to be improved (3-5-ETS1-3).