Context helps connect design challenges to a larger framework and helps embed them in the curriculum and make them transdisciplinary. A great way to supply context is to collaborate with local experts (from local museums, libraries, your parent body, etc.).
In the engineering design process, goals are met by meeting criteria while staying within constraints.
Criteria: Students must first understand the criteria they need to meet for the engineering problem to be solved. For the water filter challenge, one criterion was the clarity of the filtered water. Letting students choose the criteria for the challenge motivates them as they progress through the iterative process. The class can brainstorm criteria as a whole, or in groups, and then vote on a set of two to four to use as a class.
Constraints: Constraints, or restrictions, place limits on the design, such as the cost of materials.
Watch this video clip of a student from Ms. Salchli’s class discussing the real world implications of the water filter challenge.
| Keyboard Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Pause/Play video playback |
| Enter | Pause/Play video playback |
| m | Mute/Unmute video volume |
| Up and Down arrows | Increase and decrease volume by 10% |
| Right and Left arrows | Seek forward or backward by 5 seconds |
| 0-9 | Fast seek to x% of the video. |
| f | Enter or exit fullscreen. (Note: To exit fullscreen in flash press the Esc key. |
| c | Press c to toggle captions on or off |
In the notes section below, share one science lesson you teach that has real world impact and describe how you could incorporate a design challenge in that lesson. You will continue planning that challenge throughout this module.