Design and Prototyping

On the first day, students will step into the shoes of real engineers by learning how to design, prototype, test, and improve their own creations. They'll perform three projects that will teach them how to use the engineering design process to complete a task. The students will start by building tall spaghetti towers that must balance height and stability, followed by a Rube Goldberg project that will help the student to learn more about gravity and how to test their designs, and will end the day by designing protective systems in the classic egg drop challenge. These fun yet challenging activities teach students how to think critically, solve problems creatively, and understand the value of failure as a step toward improvement. They will also simulate a real makerspace environment where students must think critically about what materials to use and most importantly, they'll begin to build a strong foundation in the engineering design process, which they’ll use throughout the rest of the camp.