The Engineering Design Process: An Eggstronaut Mission

Teach your students about the engineering design process with this fun lesson plan. They will design and build the tallest possible tower using nothing but paper and tape, but there's an additional twist on this classic activity. The tower must support a heavy weight at the top without collapsing! Teachers, note that middle school and high school versions of this lesson plan are also available. The 2021 Engineering Challenge is over, but you can still try this fun lesson with your students,… Read more

Teach your students about the engineering design process with this fun lesson plan. They will design and build the tallest possible tower using nothing but paper and tape, but there's an additional twist on this classic activity. The tower must support a heavy weight at the top without collapsing! Teachers, note that elementary and high school versions of this lesson plan are also available. The 2021 Engineering Challenge is over, but you can still try out this fun challenge with your… Read more

Teach your students about the engineering design process with this fun lesson plan. The lesson is based on the real-world challenge of designing an observation tower. Can your students maximize the height of the tower while minimizing the amount of material needed to construct it? Teachers, note that elementary and middle school versions of this lesson plan are also available. The 2021 Engineering Challenge is over, but you can still try out this fun challenge with your students, or check… Read more

What is the Engineering Design Process? The engineering design process is a series of steps that engineers follow to come up with a solution to a problem. Many times the solution to a problem involves designing a product (like a machine or computer code) that meets certain criteria and/or accomplishes a certain task. This process is different from the Steps of the Scientific Method, which you may be more familiar with. If your project involves making observations and doing… Read more

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Teaching students about the engineering design process helps prepare them to do engineering projects and think like engineers when it comes to problem solving, troubleshooting, and brainstorming solutions and inventions. With a combination of free videos, lessons, and learning materials, you can choose the tools that best suit the needs of your classroom. Teaching Steps of the Engineering Design Process If you teach the scientific method to students,… Read more

Teach students to think like engineers with fun hands-on building and design challenges. Spark interest and build confidence with one of these free engineering challenges for elementary school students. 12 Engineering Challenges to Inspire Elementary School Students! Engineering design challenges are a great way to ignite student interest in STEM. When students tackle an engineering design challenge, they are encouraged to brainstorm, design, build,… Read more

Inspire students to think like engineers with hands-on building and design challenges! Spark interest and build engineering design skills with one of these free engineering challenges for middle school students. 16 Engineering Challenges to Inspire Middle School Students! Engineering design challenges are a great way to ignite student interest in STEM. When students tackle an engineering design challenge, they are encouraged to brainstorm, design,… Read more

Challenge high school students to think like engineers and design, build, and test their own solutions to one of these free engineering challenges. 11 Engineering Challenges for High School Students! Engineering design challenges are a great way to ignite student interest in STEM. When students tackle an engineering design challenge, they are encouraged to brainstorm, design, build, test, problem solve, troubleshoot, tinker, innovate, and iterate. The… Read more

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Find tools to help streamline assigning, managing, and assessing science projects. We also have resources to help you plan your science fair! This is part 4 in our 5-part STEM Education series on the value of science projects and science fairs. Science Buddies has a number of free tools for educators to help manage the student science fair project, from start to finish. The tools linked below work hand-in-hand with the tips and best practices we shared… Read more

Why do the 2023 Ping Pong Pickup Engineering Challenge? Here are 10 reasons this is a great STEM challenge for your students. The annual Science Buddies Engineering Challenge makes it fun for students to try engineering. Each year, the Science Buddies Engineering Challenge presents an innovative and engaging engineering task and challenges students in grades K-12 around the world to use the engineering design process to brainstorm, design, build, and… Read more

Follow the 10 steps below to do the 2023 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge with your students! This year's challenge is the Ping Pong Pickup Challenge. Getting a high score requires creative thinking and engineering to make a device that can pick up a ping pong ball from a set distance and return it to the starting line. How far away will your students' devices reach? The 2023 Ping Pong Pickup Challenge is an exciting way to have students try… Read more