In this unit, students embarked on an engineering project focused around building “bridges” made from paper and other materials between two textbooks using the Engineering Design Process. Students practiced their engineering skills such as collaboration, thinking of solutions to real-life problems, designing models, building prototypes to test, choosing appropriate materials, redesigning and improving based off of tests through the collaborative project. Exploration and investigation of the problem through physical testing and familiarizing of the materials allowed students to act as engineers to make group decisions regarding their bridge in order to be successful at holding pennies. Engaging with the idea of making improvements based off of results is a critical skill for this unit. Students will be asked to improve, redesign, and retest their models often. Students got to practice recording information and categorizing materials to make strategic decisions regarding design and materials.  Lastly, students  reflected on their group performance which helped them focus on their own participation and collaboration. This unit gave my students a foundation to solve many other complex problems across disciplines by focusing on collaboration and group effort towards a common goal using the Engineering Design Process. 

In this portrait, you can find our learning goals, the rationale behind my unit plan, the curriculum standards this unit covered, the assessments used, the learning activities, some student work examples, and a brief video from the unit.

The complete culture CUP can be found here.

The packet I created can be viewed here.