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5th grade · Science · Unit 9 of 11

Engineering Challenges

Criteria, constraints, fair tests and better designs.

What your child practices

Practices the engineering design process: defining a problem with criteria and constraints, comparing possible solutions, and planning fair tests that control variables and find failure points.

California Content Standards learning standard: 3-5-ETS1-1; 3-5-ETS1-2; 3-5-ETS1-3 · defining a design problem with criteria and constraints, comparing solutions, and running fair tests

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    After a test fails, an engineer should…

    • change the criteria to match
    • hide the results
    • improve the design and test again
    • give up

  2. Question 2

    A fair test changes…

    • no variables
    • only one variable at a time
    • the results
    • every variable

  3. Question 3

    Why repeat a test several times?

    • To waste time
    • To change the answer
    • To make sure the results are reliable
    • To skip the data

  4. Question 4

    What is the first step of the design process?

    • Sell it
    • Build the final product
    • Test it
    • Define the problem

  5. Question 5

    In engineering, criteria are…

    • limits on the design
    • the materials list
    • the final drawing
    • what the solution must do to succeed

  6. Question 6

    Three egg-drop designs: A broke 2 of 5 eggs, B broke 0 of 5, C broke 4 of 5. Which is best?

    • B
    • A
    • They are all equal
    • C

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