Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are in almost every electronic device. Teach students about what PCBs are and how they can even design one themselves!

While pets come in all shapes, sizes, and species, one thing is for sure, they are part of the family! As the pet industry has never been stronger, the demand for toys, accessories, and care products are in huge demand. Through this lesson, students will think like a designer as they create prototype products and solutions for our pets in this real-world challenge!

Have you ever considered why acoustic guitars are louder without the use of electricity? Or why putting a phone in a glass cup makes the music playing louder? These instances are examples of manipulating and directing sound waves, something we do with our speakers, with our hands, and in our everyday lives! But can we design an acoustic device to do this intentionally?

Over the course of history, humankind has crafted tools that have literally shaped society. Tools are technology, something that makes completing a task easier and through this design challenge, students will engage with modern technology as they design, fabricate, and test tools of their own creation for a real-world task!

Dating back to the 4th millennium BC, stamp seals have been used to tell stories, share ideas, portray authority or security, and leave a literal mark throughout history. Through this challenge, students will be able to create their own unique impressions on time by designing and fabricating a stamp or seal of their own!

Climate change and sustainable energy are real world problems students have heard about in passing or seen in media. It's time for them to think critically about what they can do. Get students adaptive and mechanical thoughts rolling with Sustainable Solar-Powered Vehicles.

Despite the challenge, remorse, and frustration, humankind strives to partake in puzzles and games whenever we can. Nearly everyone has played a game or solved a puzzle of some kind, whether it be a strategy, mechanical, logic, or skill. In this challenge, students will not only experiment with and play different puzzle and games, but also design and fabricate their own!

What do we use when we run out of fuel? What if we had something that never ran out of fuel instead? Students will learn about one type of renewable energy and identify drawbacks, think of new and clever ways to improve upon them by brainstorming, designing, and prototyping.

Where do we put stuff? Perhaps in boxes, drawers, bags, and cases, sometimes specific to the thing we store, sometimes generic. In this lesson, students will identify ways they can better organize or improve part of their lives by designing and manufacturing unique and smart storage solutions. 

While the technology may be ancient, the real-world concepts and lessons that can be learned through designing and building catapults is still very much alive today! Through this hands-on design challenge, students will learn how catapults have evolved over time as they design and build their own modern-day projectile throwing devices under real-world specifications and constraints.