Product Overview

The purpose of this exercise is to allow students to engage in a hands-on prototyping and testing exercise. Students are asked to form teams and create a prototype boat that can float on water carrying marbles using only materials provided by the instructor (e.g., cups, straws, tape, etc.). The boat must not sink, and the students should aim to carry as many marbles as possible.

Learning Objectives

1. To relate user needs to design criteria, including functions and attributes. 2. To test the relationship between solutions (prototypes) and problems (functions and attributes). 3. To engage in iterative design-build-test activities commonly associated with prototyping.