+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Engineering Design Process

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed
Design your own video game, engineer accident-proof highways, or even develop a new phone app! The Engineering Design Model can be used with all ages and in all subject areas to create a product, system or service. The resource explains...
+
Lesson Plan
NPR

Introduction to the Engineering Design Process

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Step by step is always best. In groups, future engineers create the tallest possible tower with marshmallows and spaghetti sticks. Along the way, they learn about the engineering design process. 
+
Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Toxic Popcorn Design Challenge

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Engineering enthusiasts are sure to explode in understanding as they practice the engineering design process (EDP). A container of "toxic popcorn" is placed in the classroom. Teams must work together to devise a method for removing it...
+
Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Interactive Gumball Machine

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Sure, you may be able to build a better mousetrap, but what about a gum dispenser? In a fun engineering challenge, teams must design and build a working interactive gumball machine with specific constraints and criteria.
+
Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Dispenser Designs

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
After reading about the history of tape dispensers, learners compare and contrast different dispenser designs. Next, teams work within budgetary and time constraints to design a better dispenser. When finished, each engineer reflects on...
+
Lesson Plan
2
2
American Chemical Society

Chemical Reactions and Engineering Design

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Construction leads to habitat loss and local wildlife suffers. Scholars must build a reptile egg incubation device that meets many constraints. Various experiments help them discover the chemical reaction needed to reach the proper...
+
Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Assembly Line

For Teachers 2nd - 12th Standards
Working under specific constraints and with designated criteria, groups work together to create a product using an assembly line process. In addition, they work through the entire engineering design process with an excellent graphic to...
+
Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Clutter Cutter

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Challenge young learners to cut the clutter with this fun engineering project. As employees of a home and office supply company, young engineers are asked to develop devices that organize everyday items. After participating in a...
+
Activity
Teach Engineering

Super Slinger Engineering Challenge

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
How well can you launch a ping-pong ball? Small groups design launchers that can launch a ping-pong ball 20 feet into a target. The teams follow the engineering design process as they develop a solution that meets the design...
+
Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Design Step 1: Identify the Need

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What exactly does an engineer do? Learners find out through a lesson that asks them to solve a problem that affects a target population. Aspiring engineers learn the steps of the engineering design process as they apply it to a challenge...
+
Activity
NASA

Beginning Engineering, Science, and Technology

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Space, the Final Frontier. The nine NASA-created challenges in this unit are designed to teach class members the engineering design process. Each challenge comes with teacher and student pages that can be used individually or as a...
+
Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Design Step 4: Engineering Analysis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What is the main difference between an engineer and a technician?  This is one of the driving questions in a plan that proves that analysis at every step of development is crucial to the engineering design process. The lesson starts with...
+
Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Design Step 6: Evaluate/Manufacture a Final Product

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
This is what all of the excitement has been building up to! Young engineers create engineering drawings, use machines to manufacture their products, test, and evaluate their designs in the last step in the engineering design process.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Light but Strong: A Lesson in Engineering

For Teachers K - 5th Standards
Aspiring space engineers design a rocket launch platform together to explore materials. The platform needs to be lightweight so that it can be transported easily, but super strong so that it can support the weight of the rocket and its...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Purdue University

Design of a Door Alarm

For Teachers 4th
How does electricity work? Budding scientists explore the concepts of electrical currents and open and closed circuits with class discussion and a hands-on activity using a battery to turn on a light bulb. Learners also make predictions...
+
Lesson Plan
Intel

Understanding the Design Process

For Teachers 6th - 10th Standards
Can you build a better mousetrap? Broken into two sessions, this plan introduces learners to the design process. The first session has pupils look at the world through a design perspective by redesigning everyday objects. In the second...
+
Lesson Plan12:18
1
1
Teach Engineering

Storing Android Accelerometer Data: App Design

For Teachers 9th - 12th
There's an app for that! Pupils learn to build an app that will store data on an Android. The activity introduces class members to the tiny database, TinyDB, for Android devices. A video tutorial provides an example that uses the TinyDB...
+
Lesson Plan
National Geographic

Engineering Inspirations from Nature

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
With James Cameron's DEEPSEA CHALLENGER expedition as an example, engaged engineering students learn about biomimicry and how engineers can imitate processes in nature to design new technology. They experiment with temperature on...
+
Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Engineer a Dam

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
To begin the learning about dams, learners read (or are read to, depending on the age group) a passage about how dams work. Next, they work in groups to use the materials provided to build a small scale working dam. After the experience,...
+
Unit Plan
Teach Engineering

Service-Based Engineering Design Project

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Do some good for the community while learning about engineering. Groups complete a service-based engineering design project over the course of five weeks. The resource provides guidance on how to conduct the project and help pupils get...
+
Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Design Step 5: Construct a Prototype

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Enough with the talking, let's build something! In the fifth step in the engineering design process, young engineers build a prototype to test their ideas. The lesson walks them through the process of evaluating it step-by-step....
+
Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Statue Display Tower

For Teachers 2nd - 12th Standards
Sometimes engineering problems that seem easy prove to be more challenging than imagined. Present your class with the challenge to build a functional display tower to support a statue using only the supplies available in class while...
+
Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Get it Write

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
In an effort to practice engineering design, STEM classes break out into teams and endeavor to make a working ink pen. To prepare, they read about writing implements through history, patents, and viscosity of liquids. Armed with this...
+
Lesson Plan
Kenan Fellows

Assembly Required and the Design Process Too!

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
An engineering design lesson plan contains connected activities as a capstone engineering project. The activities revolve around the principle of improving an existing object and designing the manufacturing process in order to do so. The...