Build a device to accomplish a fun task. Accept a design trade-off challenge of using only a set amount of simple materials, as if you were stuck on a desert island, to make your device work.

Object of this lesson is to learn about the engineering design of musical instruments. Learners work in teams to design and build their own "tunable" and unique instrument using everyday materials.

A silly read-aloud captures the attention of students who must jump right into action applying the engineering design process in an effort to stop the squirrels from eating the birdseed. To complete the brainstorming students will work...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] The technological design process is a step-by-step approach to finding a solution to a problem. Often, the main challenge in technological design is finding a...

In this blog article, the author talks about some of the trade-offs that must occur during the software design process with reference to an interview with Bill Buxton who was Principle Researcher at Microsoft Research at the time....

Students learn about water poverty and how water engineers can develop appropriate solutions to a problem that is plaguing nearly a sixth of the world's population. Students follow the engineering design process to design a gravity-fed...

This activity illustrates the interrelationship between science and engineering in the context of extinction prevention. There are two parts to the activity. The first part challenges students to think like scientists as they generate...

With this design challenge, students can build a wind-powered turbine that can pump water up from the ground. This site contains tips to complete the design challenge as well as a place for students to document their engineering design...

Can you design and build a device that will slow down your payload as it falls so it lands gently when dropped from 8 feet high? This website contains a lesson plan, tips, and a place for students to document their engineering design...

Do you think you can things invisible? In this design challenge, students will make a structure that can change how waves move and learn how to make things invisible! This site includes tips, a lesson plan, and a place for students to...

Can you spin around in an office chair when you flap your powerful bird wings? In this challenge, students will design and build a powerful bird wing that can spin you around in an office chair when you flap it. This website contains...

Design a set of mechanical genes that control the way something grows with this challenge on this site. This site also includes tips, a lesson plan, and a place for students to document their engineering design process.

Can you build something that can sort data through multiple parallel channels? This site contains a challenge, tips, a lesson plan, and a place for students to document their engineering design process.

Can you build a balloon helicopter that can fly at least 3 feet from the ground? This site gives a lesson plan, tips, and a place for students to document their engineering design process.

Using recycled paper and tape, students will build a redwood tree that is taller than you and that can stand on its own. The site includes the challenge, tips, lesson plan, and a place for students to document their engineering design...

Using your knowledge of the flow of electricity, do you think you could build a switch that can complete a circuit to turn on an LED? This site contains the challenge, tips, a lesson plan, and a place for students to document their...

Students brainstorm new ideas during part of the engineering process of designing a water purification system.

Student teams design their own booms (bridges) and engage in a friendly competition with other teams to test their designs. Each team strives to design a boom that is light, can hold a certain amount of weight, and is affordable to...

This unit covers the processes of photosynthesis, extinction, biomimicry and bioremediation. In the first lesson on photosynthesis, students learn how engineers use the natural process of photosynthesis as an exemplary model of a complex...

Students use simple materials to design and make model sailboats that must stay upright and sail straight in a testing tank.

Amy Smith is an engineer who designs simple and inexpensive solutions to real-world problems. This video produced for Teachers' Domain features her innovative design for testing the safety of drinking water in the developing world.

This is an engineering activity that requires students to build a mousetrap car based on certain constraints. Constraints include students having a virtual budget that they use to buy approved parts for their car, the car having...

Students explore electromagnetism and engineering concepts using optimization techniques to design an efficient magnetic launcher. Groups start by algebraically solving the equations of motion for the velocity at the time when a...

Many products in our world are designed by engineers and scientists whose inspiration and ideas come from nature. Presents strategies that humans have learned from nature and products that have been designed using nature's principles.