Balance Criteria and Constraints that Require Trade-offs

Watch this video where youth must balance criteria and constraints as they design enrichment toys for animals that are engaging and safe.

AS YOU WATCH THE VIDEO, THINK ABOUT:

  • What are the criteria and constraints for this activity?
  • What strategies or questions do facilitators use to help youth think about the criteria and constraints?

NOW THAT YOU’VE WATCHED THE VIDEO, REFLECT ON WHAT YOU SAW.  HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO YOUR WORK?

Criteria and constraints are often in tension with each other, and youth may need to consider trade-offs in order to optimize their solution.

  • How could you engage youth in helping to define the criteria and constraints for an engineering challenge?
  • How can youth apply this practice in other areas of their life?  Where else do they have to manage trade-offs?

As youth use this engineering practice, they will come to understand that any solution cannot optimize all of the criteria and constraints, and that their role as an engineer is to find the best solution possible within the full context of the problem.

Explore Engineering Practices