Engineers Solve Problems

Lab Brief #6

🎯 Your mission

Predict it first. Then prove yourself right (or wrong).

⚡ The twist

Every solution creates a new problem. That's good — that's the next project.

What you'll learn

Engineers design solutions to problems. They make things that help people every day!

Key words

design
A plan you make to build or test something on purpose.
problem
A question or difficulty that needs to be solved.
solution
A mixture where one substance dissolves evenly into another.

Make a hypothesis first

Predict: which design will hold the most weight?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

aluminum foil
pennies

⚠️ Safety first

Have an adult check your set-up before you start, and tidy everything away afterwards.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Look at the new words. Can you say each one?

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Design a boat from foil that can hold the most pennies without sinking.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Use your senses to describe what you notice.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write 1-2 sentences about what happened.

Question 1 of 3

What do engineers design?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 3

Which was designed by engineers?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 3 of 3

Engineers make things that:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🌉 The Eiffel Tower can grow 6 inches taller in summer because metal expands when hot.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 3 right.

Next: The Design Process All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: Every bridge, building, and gadget you've ever used started with this.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Find something that's broken at home and try to figure out *why* it broke.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's something around the house you'd redesign — and how?”

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Engineers Solve Problems

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