Engineers, Everyday Heroes

The Engineering Approach

Engineers apply the principles developed by scientists and mathematicians to create new products, processes, procedures or systems. They apply scientific theory to practice. They solve practical technical problems to benefit us all, keeping in mind that people and the environment must be protected, not harmed by their work.

This guide promotes a hands-on approach to learning about science and engineering. The challenges involve students in concrete experiences that develop skills of scientific inquiry and relate science and technology to real life.

Solving a problem is a complex process requiring students to interpret data, control variables and formulate hypotheses. Using the same inquiry/design model that engineers follow will help them meet the challenges they face in this guide and in the real world.

The Inquiry Process

At the first stage of problem-solving students:

explore a variety of problems;
develop questions from the problems;
predict possibilities;
plan and carry out their activities (gather evidence);
interpret their results and come to conclusions based on evidence;
evaluate and communicate their conclusions; and apply the conclusions to a new problem.

The Design Process

Following the design process students:

recognize and define a problem;
investigate the problem;
generate many ideas and possible solutions;
develop the best solutions;
create working diagrams and models;
make a prototype;
test the solution; and modify the solution if not successful.