Designing Design Challenges
A design challenge involves teams of students working on a task with limited time and materials. In the process, students learn to brainstorm, to work toward a shared goal, to persist by learning and redesigning based on earlier attempts, and to take on the various team roles involved in accomplishing a task as a group.
Standards
Idea Sheets are cross-referenced to subjects listed in the Common Core, Next Generation Science Standards, and California Content Standards.
Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success & constraints on materials, time, or cost. ||Next Generation Science Standards||Elementary||Engineering Design|||Generate & compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria & constraints of the problem. ||Next Generation Science Standards||Elementary||Engineering Design|||Plan & carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled & failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved. ||Next Generation Science Standards||Elementary||Engineering Design|||Science and Engineering Practices: 1. Asking Questions and Defining Problems 2. Developing and Using Models 3. Planning and Carrying Out Investigations 4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data 5. Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking 6. Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions 7. Engaging in Argument from Evidence 8. Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information ||Next Generation Science Standards||Grade 4||Science and Engineering Practices|||Science and Engineering Practices: 1. Asking Questions and Defining Problems 2. Developing and Using Models 3. Planning and Carrying Out Investigations 4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data 5. Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking 6. Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions 7. Engaging in Argument from Evidence 8. Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information ||Next Generation Science Standards||Grade 5||Science and Engineering Practices|||Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.||Next Generation Science Standards||Middle School||Engineering Design|||Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.||Next Generation Science Standards||Middle School||Engineering Design|||Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object & the mass of the object.||Next Generation Science Standards||Middle School||Physical Science||Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions |||Science and Engineering Practices: 1. Asking Questions and Defining Problems 2. Developing and Using Models 3. Planning and Carrying Out Investigations 4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data 5. Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking 6. Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions 7. Engaging in Argument from Evidence 8. Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information ||Next Generation Science Standards||Middle School||Science and Engineering Practices|||Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, & its acceleration. [Objects subject to a net unbalanced force, e.g., an object falling , rolling down a ramp, or a moving- pulled by a constant force.]||Next Generation Science Standards||High School||Physical Science||Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions|||Science and Engineering Practices: 1. Asking Questions and Defining Problems 2. Developing and Using Models 3. Planning and Carrying Out Investigations 4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data 5. Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking 6. Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions 7. Engaging in Argument from Evidence 8. Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information ||Next Generation Science Standards||High School||Science and Engineering Practices
6. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions & conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept, and to address the content of the other strands, students will develop questions & perform investigations.||CA Science||Grade 4||04. Investigation and Experimentation|||6. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Student will:||CA Science||Grade 5||04. Investigation and Experimentation|||7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will: ||CA Science||Grade 6||07. Investigation and Experimentation|||7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions & conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept, and to address the content of the other strands, students will develop questions & perform investigations.||CA Science||Grade 7||07. Investigation and Experimentation|||2. Unbalanced forces cause changes in velocity.||CA Science||Grade 8||01. Physical Sciences||2. Forces|||9. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions & conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept, and to address the content of the other strands, students should develop questions & perform investigations.||CA Science||Grade 8||01. Physical Sciences||9. Investigation and Experimentation|||1. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions & conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept, & to address the content of the other strands, students should develop questions & perform investigations.||CA Science||Grade 9-12||05. Investigation and Experimentation|||1.b. When forces are balanced no acceleration occurs, and thus an object continues to move at a constant speed or stays at rest (Newton’s First Law).||Grade 9-12||01. Physics||1. Motion and Forces||1. Newton’s laws predict the motion of most objects.
- Physical Science
- Grades 3-5
- Grades 6-8
- Science
- Engineering