An Engineering Design Process for Young Children

Despite resulting in a multitude of products ranging from something as simple as a cup to something as complex as a helicopter, the design and make process used by engineers remains consistent and is straightforward in its process. We are therefore able to adopt this in a simplified form for the primary or elementary classroom. In this next section, we set out the model of the engineering design process (EDP) and explain the purpose, thought processes, and activities encountered at each stage.

Igniting ideas

Just like the EDP used by engineers, the child’s version of the EDP starts with a need. Engineers work in response to an issue or problem that they need to find a solution for. It is the job of an engineer to work out what needs to be done in response to this problem and to provide workable solutions. Giving children a problem to solve is the spark to set them thinking, to ignite their ideas.

Similarly, the engineering challenges are all based on problems that children will need to design and make a product to find a solution for. These problems are set within a story context using everyday situations that the children in your class would be familiar with. These challenges are set by fictional characters of the same age as children at the primary or elementary stage of their education to make them more relatable for the children and to help the children to empathise with the needs of the characters involved.

However, just as in the real EDP, the needs and requirements that are set out at this stage are generic and open ended.

Exploring ideas

During this stage of the EDP, we encourage children to translate the initial need of the characters in the challenge story into a set of engineering requirements, in a comparable way to engineers turning their challenges into a design specification. In the classroom, this is done by helping the children to pose questions about the conditions, needs, and purpose of the challenge so that a set of more tangible and quantifiable criteria can be met.

Illustrative engineering challenge: A cold drink on a hot day

Cery plans to visit the beach on a hot summer’s day. She would like to take her drink with her but only has a disposable plastic bottle that will not keep her drink cold for very long. Can you design something reusable that will keep her drink cold for her?

In our beach cup problem, the children may need to know the answers to the following questions to be able to design and make a suitable product.

● How much drink does the cup need to hold?

● Who is the cup for?

● How long does the cup need to keep the drink cold for?

● Will the cup be reused?

● How much money do you have to spend on the cup?

● What materials and tools/equipment are available?

Through asking questions such as these, the children then develop their understanding of a more focussed set of requirements, and therefore capture everything that is needed for the product.

As you start to work with the EDP in your classroom, the children may require support to formulate suitable questions at first. However, with more practice, the children will become familiar with exactly what it is they need to find out at this stage of the EDP and so will become more adept at asking appropriate questions.

Developing ideas

As we learnt previously, engineering is a creative subject where thinkers who can look at problems from different angles and those who can produce imaginative solutions are welcome. Just like real engineers, during this stage of the engineering process, children are encouraged to use their imaginations and consider a variety of potential solutions where anything is possible. For example, for our beach cup problem, the children may consider designing a hat holding a drink bottle and straws, fluid ice boxes, or even a drink transporting drone to transport a cold drink straight from the fridge at the café to them! It is only through considering the wild and whacky ideas that new and novel solutions will be arrived upon.

Once the children have let their imaginations run wild, it is time to also look elsewhere for inspiration. Just as real engineers ideate, here we encourage children to undertake simple research about what is already available, which could provide potential ideas and inspirations for the design and product that they will produce. Children sometimes struggle with this stage, as they may think that it is cheating or copying. To respond to this, children should be helped to understand that this is in fact how real engineers work: no one designs a bridge from scratch!

During this stage, the children may also need to do some initial investigations. For our beach cup example, this may involve testing the thermal insulation or waterproofing properties of potential materials.

Designing ideas

Again, like real engineers during this stage, the children will create their engineering drawings (designs or plans) for the final product using information gathered from the ‘developing ideas’ stage. Ideas in the designs should include:

● Dimensions and sizes

● Views of the sides, top and bottom of the product

● Materials to be used

● Separate drawings of any fixtures or components

● Mechanisms for fixtures and joins

Children should be encouraged to produce around three main ideas or plans. Using these three ideas, we can then mimic the work that engineers do in the down selection (i.e., evaluating) which of these designs is the best. This is done by looking back at the original need set out at the ignite stage and the set of criteria developed during the explore stage and evaluating which of their ideas best fits these necessities. It is vital that teachers remind children of the initial problem during this stage. Have they met what is required of them in terms of solving the initial problem? Is what they have planned realistic and will be achievable within the constraints set?

Making, testing, and improving ideas

Making: This is the hands-on bit where the children get to make their product. During this stage, children may need to be taught specific skills, such as how to use tools correctly; even something as simple as a pair of scissors for younger children. It is important that children are taught to use the right tool for the job correctly. Imagine trying to cut a raw carrot with an everyday butter knife; it would be both dangerous and tricky! It would be safer and easier to teach children how to hold and safely use a shaper knife, so take the time to teach the children that you work with how to use the tools that they will need correctly and safely.

Testing: Engineers do not simply present their finished product and then walk away. They evaluate, test, and improve, sometimes going back to the drawing board and starting all over again! However, children may tend to make their product and very much see this as the final and completed version. It is important to challenge this idea and encourage children to evaluate and improve their work, just as a real engineer would with a prototype. One way to do this is to set up scenarios that test the products made. For example, can the beach cup made withstand being on damp sand for 10 minutes? How cold is the drink it contains after 10 minutes when under heat? It is through testing processes that faults as areas for improvement can be illuminated.

Improving: Some children may see finding faults in their products as criticism and give up if their product is not perfect immediately, whilst others may struggle to suggest ways in which their product could be improved. A great way to help with this is to encourage the sharing of ideas, but children can view this as copying. Teachers need to reiterate that engineers do not work on their own; they continually share ideas and develop ideas together. Try to actively encourage this through the following activities:

● Ask groups of children to display their product or holding a product carousel where children are free to examine the work of other groups.

● Ask children to share with the class a problem, issue, or triumph that they are having with their product (e.g., how to get a lid to fit onto a drink bottle). The rest of the class can then share how they overcame the same issue or use the developed knowledge themselves.

● During this stage, children may encounter common difficulties such as a product not being stable or strong enough to support a designated weight. This provides a great opportunity to go back to research other products to consider how they have been made more stable or stronger, etc.

Excerpt from Children as Engineers: Teaching Science, Design Technology and Sustainability through Engineering in the Primary Classroom by Fay Lewis and Juliet Edmonds. © 2024 Routledge/Taylor & Francis Inc. Reproduced with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.