Engineering Design - The Living Canopy
The Design Challenge
An elementary school with limited financial resources is considering designs for a new garden. At the same time, the playground receives too much sunlight and there is not enough shade to protect students from getting sunburned.
Design and build a prototype that address both of these problems, while meeting the following design principles:
- the design must provide a shaded area that incorporates gardening
- the design must involve teachers, students and parents in its building and maintenance
- the design must use low-cost and or minimal-cost materials
Subjects
- Engineering
- English Language Arts
- Gardening
- Mathematics
Materials
- Easel pad, markers, Post-It notes, etc. for brainstorming
- Recycled materials, such as cardboard, pipe cleaners, Styrofoam, etc. from RAFT for prototyping
- PVC pipe and connectors, rebar, wire, etc. for implementation
Design Process
- Time required: Approximately 2 hours 30 minutes across two days
- Review the Design Process: Identify Challenge, Research and Brainstorming, Prototyping, and Planning Implementation (5 minutes)
- Ask students to work in groups of four to research and brainstorm a design solution to the design challenge that incorporates design principles, using an easel pad, markers, and Post-It notes
- Ask students to create a drawing prototype of their design solution (15 minutes)
- Ask students to select recycled materials for prototyping (5 minutes)
- Ask students to create a three-dimensional prototype of their design solution (30 minutes)
- Ask students to create a title and description of their design solution (5 minutes)
- Ask students to present their design solution (15 minutes)
- Ask students to critique other groups' design solutions (15 minutes)
- Ask students to modify their design solution (15 minutes)
- Ask students to present their design solution again (15 minutes)
- Ask students to create a timeline and list materials for implementation (15 minutes)