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Start with the learning goal and a solvable problem
Before choosing a project, identify what students should learn or demonstrate. A build can involve science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, but it should not be an activity without a learning purpose. For example, students might explore force and friction by building a vehicle, or investigate heat transfer by designing a way to cool a model or person.
Next, define the problem in terms students can act on and success criteria they can observe. A useful engineering challenge gives students a reason to make design decisions, then lets them check whether those decisions worked. Science Buddies lesson materials can include grade-level alignment, educator background, hands-on activities, prompts, worksheets, and assessment resources: Science Buddies.
Use a project-selection checklist
- Learning alignment: Name the concept or skill students will demonstrate, and decide what evidence will show they learned it.
- Challenge and independence: Check whether the directions, number of choices, and planning demands fit the group. Older students can generally take on more open-ended decisions, but adapt to learners rather than relying on grade labels alone.
- Testing and revision: Choose a task that allows students to observe or measure how a design performs, then improve it. A finished object by itself is weak evidence of the design process.
- Time and materials: Confirm the lesson fits the available class time and that supplies are affordable, accessible, and reusable where possible. Check local availability before setting a budget.
- Safety and access: Review hazards, protective equipment, supervision, physical access, reading demands, and alternative ways for students to participate.
- Evidence students can explain: Make sure learners can connect observations or measurements to design choices, rather than simply display a prototype.
Adjust support and expectations by grade band
Grade bands are useful planning guides, not universal developmental standards. A shared challenge can work across grades if the directions, constraints, measurement demands, and expected explanations change with the group.
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Elementary students
Use a concrete, visible problem, a small set of materials, and short, explicit steps. Teacher modeling or a worksheet can help students get started. Offer a few meaningful design choices, then have students compare what happened when they tested their builds. Science Buddies’ Ball Run Challenge has a separate elementary plan for the same core activity used with older students: Ball Run Challenge lesson plans.
Middle school students
Keep the hands-on challenge, but ask teams to define the problem, gather relevant information, compare possible solutions, and use test evidence to revise. NSTA contributor Cindy Workosky describes three goals for middle-school engineering design: “To support the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Middle School Engineering Design, we have three goals for our students: to define problems accurately, design the best solution using a rigorous process, and evaluate and improve their designs based on evidence.” This is her description of the goals for her students, not a verbatim universal rule for every classroom. NSTA’s process moves through problem identification, information gathering, brainstorming, solution selection, modeling, testing and evaluation, and refinement: NSTA’s Cool It! lesson.
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High school students
Give students more responsibility for setting criteria, planning fair tests, analyzing data, and defending tradeoffs. In addition to whether a design works, students can consider cost, safety, reliability, aesthetics, and social, cultural, or environmental impacts. NSTA’s rubber-band car lesson is a grades 9–12 example that uses craft supplies and connects the design to simple machines, energy, force, and friction: NSTA’s rubber-band car lesson.
Compare projects by what students will actually do
| Project | Grade range or focus | Student work and learning opportunity | Planning considerations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball Run Challenge | K–12, with separate elementary, middle, and high school plans | Design, build, test, and improve a run that slows a ping-pong ball; different plans let the same central challenge support different levels of scaffolding. | The 2026 lesson describes the activity as low-cost, but check materials and local availability before budgeting. Reused or equivalent ping-pong balls may be suitable. |
| Cool It! | Grades 6–8 | Design, build, and test a prototype intended to cool the human body. | NSTA lists a duration of 60–120 minutes and specifies safety goggles and heat-resistant nonslip oven mitts. |
| Rubber-band car | Grades 9–12 | Build a car from readily available craft supplies and consider physics concepts including simple machines, energy, force, and friction. | Students can weigh performance alongside cost, safety, reliability, aesthetics, and broader impacts. |
| DESCARTES | Grades 4–7 focus | A game-based simulation paired with a 3D printer supports designing and building engineering models such as boats and airplanes. | The IES record describes a 2016 prototype pilot with four grade 4 classrooms and 92 students. It also describes a planned later study; that planned study is not completed evidence of impact. |
These examples differ in the kind of scaffolding and preparation they require. A project with specialized equipment or protective gear may be a poor fit if the class cannot access or supervise it, even when its learning goal is appealing.
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Make a shared challenge work across grades
Using one core problem with multiple classes can simplify preparation while preserving age-appropriate work. Keep the central challenge, then change how much students are told, how many constraints they must satisfy, what they measure, and how they explain results. The Ball Run Challenge offers separate lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school students; DESCARTES focuses on grades 4–7. These examples show two ways to structure work across grade bands, not a guarantee that one set of directions will fit every classroom.
For instance, an elementary group might follow a short set of directions and compare two runs. A middle-school group could choose between possible designs and use test observations to refine one. A high-school group might establish criteria, plan repeated measurements, and defend tradeoffs. The particular expectations should follow the learning goal, available time, and students’ needs.
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Check safety, access, and logistics before committing
Project selection includes more than whether the build sounds engaging. Read the activity’s instructions and make a practical plan for the room, supplies, students, and supervision.
- List required materials and tools; confirm quantities, costs, substitutions, and whether components can be reused.
- Identify hazards and the protective equipment or supervision the lesson specifies. For Cool It!, NSTA lists goggles and heat-resistant nonslip oven mitts.
- Check whether the activity fits the available time. Cool It! is listed as taking 60–120 minutes; other project durations should be checked in their lesson materials.
- Consider physical access and reading demands. Plan roles or alternative ways to contribute so that building is not the only route to participation.
- Decide in advance what students will record, such as a measurement, observation, sketch, or explanation linking evidence to a design decision.
Use student evidence to judge whether a project fits
A strong project makes learning visible during the process. Students should be able to explain what problem they addressed, why they chose a design, what happened in a test, and what they changed or would change next. If the activity ends with construction but offers no meaningful way to test, compare, or explain a solution, consider adapting it before using it as an engineering-design project.
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For middle-school teams, NSTA’s sequence—identify the problem, gather information, brainstorm, select a solution, model, test and evaluate, then refine—offers a practical structure for producing that evidence. For older students, add explicit criteria and tradeoffs; for younger students, provide prompts or a worksheet to help them notice and describe results.
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