Engineering Student Fair Projects

Engineering is the application of science, mathematics, and experience to produce a thing or a process that is useful. Engineering is neither more nor less important than science, just different. The basic objective of science is to discover the composition and behavior of the physical world. The basic objective of engineering is to use scientific principles and methods to produce useful devices and services that serve mankind.

The Energy Lab allows you to experiment with energy conservation such as biomass, geothermal, hydorelectric, solar and wind. Ages 8 and up.

The Snap-Micro™ Controller Trainer is a way to learn about how micro-controllers are used. The easy to follow instructions guides you through the programming of basic commands by using flow charts to operate the micro-controller. Ages 12 and up.

While engineering projects are part of science fairs, engineering based science fair projects are very different from another science fair project. In fact, the method required to develop an engineering project is different from that used for science project development. The process used for science projects is referred as the "Scientific Method."

A more recent title of this process is the "Inquiry Cycle." The only title that I've found for the process used to develop engineering projects is the "Engineering Method."Following will be details of the Engineering Method, but for a comparison of the Scientific Method and the Engineering Method Scientific Method vs Engineering Method.

Now about developing a 7th grade science fair engineering project, the basic process is going to be the same no matter what grade you are in. The difference is in the complexity of the project. In addition to assistance from your teacher, you can determine the complexity required by researching engineering projects developed by other 7th grade students.

Engineering Method

Information found about the Engineering Method generally lists "Identify a Need" as the first step and doing research as the second step. I think these two steps need to be reversed. After all, how can I know what kind of device is needed until I do some background research?

Engineering Method

• 1. Background Research
• 2. Identify a need
• 3. Determine how you will solve the problem. This can be designing a new device or improving an existing one.
• 4. Prepare a preliminary design
• 5. Build and test a prototype
• 6. Retest and redesign as necessary
• 7. Draw a Conclusion
• 8. Present Results (Display)

If I give you a step-by-step procedure for developing an engineering problem, then you would be presenting a copy of my work. This is much like purchasing a kit in which if you follow the directions and, voila! You have a project. Instead, I want to provide clues to help you develop your own project. While you may need help in securing materials as well as some of the constructions, you want to maintain ownership of the project. You want it to be your project--your ideas--your work.

How to Get Started

If you have no idea for a project -Don't panic.

If you have a basic idea for your project, don't start developing it yet.

Research-Research-Research

The following questions are a good place to start. Each question links to an answer page. But don't stop there; check out other sources so that you have a clear understanding of what an engineering fair project is.

Continue learning about engineering student fair projects by reading the next article in this series Questions - Engineering Science Fair Projects...