The Engineering Design Process

The following post has been imported from my original blog. Please excuse any references to Mrs. Patton’s Patch.

After moving to the highly gifted academy in my district, I realized quickly that the Engineering Design Process was something I needed to teach my students. Although we are not a STEM program, many of my students LOVE to design things and needed a guide to help them see the importance of creating a plan and redesigning.

After researching the process and coming up with kid-friendly language, I settled on six steps:

I cannot stress enough how important seeing the words “plan” and “improve” were to helping my students see that just because you tried one time doesn’t mean you’ve solved the problem as best you could.

Here is what the bulletin board looked like in my classroom:

I had Staples print the large poster for me. I believe they called it an “engineer print” (fitting, isn’t it?). It was the cheapest way to get such a large poster.

The Engineering Design Process is something that can be incorporated into so many science activities. Instead of having students experiment with motion, why not have them create something using the design process like mine did with their marble roller coasters?

If you’re interested in these posters, you can check them out here!

I can’t wait to share more about this with you.

Let Me Help You Turn Your Students into Thinkers!

If you have a passion for getting your kids to think, you’ll love my FREE Guide. It’s about 4 simple strategies to bump up the thinking in any lesson. Download it for free and stay in touch to get classroom-tested ideas straight to your inbox!