The engineering design process: goals, limits, testing and choosing

Grade 6 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   Ari's team must keep a playground slide cool on sunny days. What is the first step of the engineering design process?

   • Pick the prettiest color for the shade before anything else
   • Define the problem: its criteria and constraints
   • Test a shade before drawing any plan
   • Build the final shade right away
2. 2.

   Define (done), brainstorm (done), and two empty boxes. After brainstorming three shade ideas, what should Bo's team do next?

   • Stop here, since the first idea is good enough to build
   • Throw out the ideas and start over
   • Skip testing and install one
   • Choose a promising idea and build a model to test
3. 3.

   Marked and an arrow to the next box. A test shows the model shade tips over in strong wind. Which step comes next for Kira's team?

   • Improve the design and test it again
   • Paint it so it looks sturdier in the wind
   • Give up on shades altogether
   • Install it anyway
4. 4.

   Paper bridge across a 30 cm gap; hold pennies; use no more than 4 sheets of paper. Jun's class is building paper bridges across a 30 cm gap. Which one is a constraint?

   • Be strong in the middle
   • Stay level across the gap
   • Hold as many pennies as possible on top
   • Use no more than 4 sheets of paper
5. 5.

   Lunch cooler; keep a drink cold for 4 hours; fit in a backpack; use class craft supplies; finish by Friday. Luz's team designs a lunch cooler with class craft supplies. Which one is a criterion?

   • Be finished by Friday
   • Keep a drink cold for 4 hours
   • Use class craft supplies
   • Fit inside a backpack
6. 6.

   Garden-water filter; make muddy water clearer; work quickly; use only classroom materials. Milo's class designs a filter to clean muddy water for watering the garden. Which one is a constraint?

   • Use only classroom materials
   • Make the water clearer
   • Catch the sand
   • Let water through the filter quickly

7. Read this first

   Decision matrix (model data), scores 1 to 3

   Design A, strength 3, uses little paper 1, easy to build 2; Design B, 2, 3, 3; Design C, 3, 2, 1.

8. 7.

   Noah's team scored three bridge designs from 1 (low) to 3 (high). Which design has the highest total?

   • Design C, also top for strength
   • Design B, with 8 points
   • They tie, so any one will do
   • Design A, the strongest
9. 8.

   Design A scores 3 for strength but 1 for using little paper. What does that tell Ren?

   • A uses very little paper
   • A can skip testing, since it is strong
   • A is the top design overall
   • A is strong but uses a lot of paper

10. Cooler tests (model data)

    Trial	Result
    1	cold after 4 hours
    2	not yet tested
    3	not yet tested

11. 9.

    Tala's team tests their cooler once, and the drink stays cold. What should they do next?

    • Call it done after one test
    • Switch to a different cooler design instead
    • Test it several more times to be sure
    • Change three things at once and test
12. 10.

    Table, Repeated trials (model data), with columns Trial 1, Trial 2, Trial 3. Why do engineers repeat tests on the same design, as Zee explains?

    • One test is plenty; repeats waste time
    • Because first tests do not count
    • To use up the extra materials
    • One test could be a fluke; repeats show if results hold