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Kids Design Engineering

Elephants fly through the air! Race cars seek a finish line! Birdhouses sail across the water! Guided by our Lab Specialists, students become capable engineers and successfully experience the design-build-test process as they problem-solve to meet their engineering challenge.

The KDE Learning Lab is an innovative three-session program that incorporates science, math, art, and technology as students design and create engineering projects. Students discover pneumatic power – the power of air under pressure. Each student will take on an age-appropriate challenge:

Build an object or vehicle that will travel a distance on land or water (or possibly air!) powered by air stored in a balloon.

The solution to this challenge is up to the students, and the results are as unique as the students themselves. Kids Design Engineering provides a foundation for children to develop the abilities to tackle more complex science and math challenges in later school years.

Session 1 – KDE Awareness
In this session, students will:

• discuss energy, inventions, and engineering
• research project design choices using DCM’s projects
• use lung power to create a cover for their design journals make a pinwheel

Session 2 – KDE Materials
In this session, students will:

• practice with the tools and materials necessary to build their projects
• explore material choices and project design
• ride the DCM Hovercraft
• sketch their designs

Session 3 – KDE Build at DuPage Children’s Museum
In this session, students will:

• The design-build-test process at its best! The student engineers take the lead as they, with their design journals as a reference, gather their materials and use our tools to construct their project.
• The Lab R.A.T.S. and other adults are there to lend a hand when needed, but the students are in control. Students build, test, modify, and retest to ensure that their project meets the engineering challenge.

Addresses Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS):

• Forces and Interactions
• Engineering Design