This resource provides a hands-on, collaborative activity that introduces students to the engineering design process through a creative and personal project: designing a name tag for a classmate. It encourages relationship building and iterative design. Students begin by identifying criteria (such as personalization or creativity) and constraints (such as size or materials), then interview a partner to gather data that informs their design. They sketch, give and receive feedback, and build a final prototype. This activity is ideal for the first week of school and can be adapted for any subject area to reinforce design thinking and community building. This activity can act as a touchstone for when students engage in more extensive engineering design projects and delve further into the engineering design process.

Knowles Teacher Initiative-Engineer a name tag activity