Lesson 35 of 84 · Engineering and Design
Experiment⭐ 30 XP🛠️ Engineer ShopWhat Is a Prototype? (Part 2)
Engineering and Design.
🎯 Your mission
Set it up. Test it. Be amazed.
⚡ The twist
Constraints make you more creative, not less.
Mind = Blown
🛠️ The first computer bug was a literal moth stuck inside a machine in 1947.
Make a hypothesis first
Before you test: how many tries until it works?
What You'll Learn
A prototype is an early version of something you are building. Test it, then make it better!
Key Words
Tap a word to see its definition.
Materials Needed
- pennies
- plastic wrap
- cardboard
- tape
- scissors
Safety First
- Protect your work surface with newspaper or plastic.
- Adult supervision recommended.
Steps
Talk about what you already know about Engineering and Design.
Design a container that keeps an ice cube from melting for as long as possible.
Compare what happened to what you predicted.
Tell the class one thing you learned today.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 3What should you do if your experiment doesn't work?
Where you see this in real life
Every bridge, building, and gadget you've ever used started with this.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life 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?”
Next Smart Experiment
We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.
Share this experiment
Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.
Checkout complete lesson on Engineering and Design for 2nd Grade
Get the full Engineering and Design track as a printable PDF — all lessons, worksheets, and answer keys.