Teaching Students About the Engineering Design Process

1

• Teaching Students About the Engineering Design
  Process

2
1. Encourage teamwork

• Since students and engineers design in teams,
  this is a critical component.

3
2. Develop or encourage projects that are about
people and making life better

• Clean water
• Green energy
• Low-carbon transportation alternatives
• Advances in medicine

4
3. Celebrate science and engineering

• Focus on current events in which engineers or
  scientists save lives, help the environment or
  serve their communities.

5
4. Reverse engineer a favorite gadget

• Have students take apart devices such as cell
  phones, ipods or vacuum cleaners to see how they
  were designed and if they can imagine themselves
  as the designer, what could they do to make the
  design better?
• Whatever students are interested in - medicine,
  robotics, architecture, music or sports - theres
  probably a gadget needed to do it.

6
5. Make Math Real-World

• Math and Science are Important Tools
• Math and Science Changed Millions of Lives
• Math is one Tool in the Engineering Design Box
• Three years of High School Math Needed Engineer,
  Programmer, Accountant, Biologist, Medical
  Technician, Architect and Doctor

7
6. Use graphics to represent ideas

• Form of Communication often Overlooked
• Communication can get the Job Done or Not
• Enhance Communication Skills