Engineering Design Process
📋 What it is
Engineers solve problems with a cycle: Ask → Imagine → Plan → Create → Improve.
🗣️ Coach says
Where scientists ask “why?”, engineers ask “how can I fix it?” They define the problem, brainstorm ideas, plan, build a version, then improve it. “Fail, learn, improve” isn’t a setback — it’s the whole point.
🧠 Memory hook
Ask → Imagine → Plan → Create → Improve. Failing is just the “Improve” step arriving early.
😂 Giggle
Why did the mushroom get invited to every party?
Because he was a fungi!
😲 Whoa!
The first airplane took the Wright brothers hundreds of failed glider tests — every crash was an “Improve” step, not a defeat.
✅ Quick check: Your bridge model collapses on the first test. In the design process, is that failure or feedback?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
Feedback — the collapse tells you exactly what to strengthen in the “Improve” step; that’s the process working.
The design cycle treats a failed prototype as information for the next iteration.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Pick a small annoyance at home and run the loop on paper: Ask (the problem) → Imagine 2 fixes → Plan the best one.