To solve engineering problems, engineers follow a series of steps called the “Engineering Design Process.”
A Five-Step Process
Because the EiE Project serves young children, we’ve created a simple Engineering Design Process (EDP) to guide students through our engineering design challenges. This EDP has just five steps and uses terms children can understand.
- ASK: What is the problem? How have others approached it? What are your constraints?
- IMAGINE: What are some solutions? Brainstorm ideas. Choose the best one.
- PLAN: Draw a diagram. Make lists of materials you will need.
- CREATE: Follow your plan and create something. Test it out!
- IMPROVE: What works? What doesn’t? What could work better? Modify your design to make it better. Test it out!
It’s important to note that the EDP is flexible. There are as many variations of the model as there are engineers.
engineering 4 kids 