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5th grade · Science · Unit 8 of 12

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.

New York State Learning 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

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. First, define the problem clearly, like “How can we keep an egg safe if dropped 2 m?”
  2. Brainstorm several solutions so you can compare them.
  3. In a fair test, keep everything the same except the design.
  4. Use the results to improve the best design.

Example: You test three paper bridges. What should stay the same? Only the bridge design should change. Keep the weights and the gap they span the same. Answer: the weights and the gap

Engineering Challenges in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 8 of 12 in 5th grade Science, after Energy from the Sun and before Gravity Pulls Down.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    You may spend no more than $5 on materials. This is a…

    • constraint
    • result
    • criterion
    • hypothesis

  2. Question 2

    What is the first step of the design process?

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

  3. Question 3

    After a test fails, an engineer should…

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

  4. Question 4

    Which tool helps compare designs against criteria?

    • A microscope
    • A table with a score for each criterion
    • A thermometer only
    • A compass

  5. Question 5

    You test three paper bridges. What should stay the same?

    • Nothing
    • The weights and the gap they span
    • The bridge design you change
    • The results

  6. Question 6

    A solar oven must reach 60 °C. Design A reaches 45 °C and B reaches 65 °C. Which meets the criterion?

    • Neither
    • Both
    • B
    • A

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