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2nd grade · Science · Unit 6 of 14

Build, Test & Rebuild

Plan it, build it, test it, take it apart and build again.

What your child practices

Practices engineering steps: asking questions to define a problem, sketching how a shape helps an object work, comparing two designs from test data, and seeing how an object made of small pieces can be taken apart and built into something new.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 2.6(C) · combining and reassembling small pieces into new objects for different purposes

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Ask questions to find the problem.
  2. The shape of a thing helps it work, like bumpy tires that grip.
  3. A fair test gives both designs the same test.

Example: Why do bike tires have bumps? Bumps help the tire hold on to the road. Answer: to grip the ground

Build, Test & Rebuild in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 6 of 14 in 2nd grade Science, after Mixtures & Materials and before Light and Sound.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    A test is fair when both designs get…

    • a guess
    • the same test
    • different tests
    • no test

  2. Question 2

    Which question helps define a problem?

    • Is lunch purple?
    • What is my name?
    • How can I keep my lunch cold?
    • Do I like lunch?

  3. Question 3

    A shopping bag rips. What problem should an engineer solve?

    • Make it a new color
    • Make a bag that holds more weight
    • Make it smaller
    • Make it louder

  4. Question 4

    Why do bike tires have bumps?

    • To grip the ground
    • To hold air out
    • To make them heavy
    • To make noise

  5. Question 5

    Why does a boat have a pointed front?

    • To move through water easily
    • To sink faster
    • To hold more rain
    • To look sleepy

  6. Question 6

    Why might two people solve the same problem in different ways?

    • Engineers never share
    • There can be more than one good solution
    • Only one answer is ever right
    • Problems can't be solved

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