This lesson was about teaching kids how to think and plan according to the principles of the Engineering Design Process. These principles are ask, imagine, plan, improve, and create.
I made an example and explained my process of thinking to the students. I told them that I first thought about how to make the structure stand up. I decided that I would stand the index cards up and put a support in the middle to help it stand up. I ended up folding each card in half, then standing them up, and taping them together to form a hexagon shape.
I challenged my students to make a structure that would support weight by using the same materials of six index cards and 18 inches of tape. I had the students assess the strength of their objects by stacking textbooks from the classroom on top of the structure. All of the students did a wonderful job, and the most weight one of the structures could hold was average size 10 textbooks.
I made an example and explained my process of thinking to the students. I told them that I first thought about how to make the structure stand up. I decided that I would stand the index cards up and put a support in the middle to help it stand up. I ended up folding each card in half, then standing them up, and taping them together to form a hexagon shape.
I challenged my students to make a structure that would support weight by using the same materials of six index cards and 18 inches of tape. I had the students assess the strength of their objects by stacking textbooks from the classroom on top of the structure. All of the students did a wonderful job, and the most weight one of the structures could hold was average size 10 textbooks.