Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on?

What's all this quacking about?

Well, we were in Sam the Bat's observatory and there was a button really high up on the wall that we wanted to push, to see what it would do!

Yeah, and neither of us could reach it!

But I told Bill about something called engineering that could help us!

Wow, that's a great idea.

Engineering is how people develop solutions to problems.

First, engineers identify a situation they want to change.

And then, they design and test solutions to the problem!

Yeah! It sounded cool!

So, you identified the problem:you couldn't reach the button.

And you decided to approach the problem using engineering.

What happened next?

Well, we each designed a high-up-button-pusher, to help us try to reach the button!

But I think mine is better than Bill's/Webb's!

Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!

Alright, settle down, you two.

I bet both of you came up with some great designs!

Why don't you show me what you made?

I have my design right here!

You can see that I nailed several long pieces of lumber together!

I can reach some high buttons!

Wow, Bill, I can see that your design is very strong and stiff.

It would be great for reaching things that are far away, like that button!

But, it also looks very heavy.

I can imagine it might be hard for you to lift this one up!

Yeah, it was a little hard to handle when I was testing it in the observatory.

Well, look at mine.It's nice and lightweight.

Just tape and a stick at the end!

Webb, yours does look very light, which would make it very easy for almost anyone to use!

But, it's a little bit floppy, don't you think?

It was very easy to lift up, but you’re right, it was kind of hard to control!

Well, you know, the best part about engineering is that there can be more than one way to solve the same problem!

You both came up with solutions to the problem.

And both of them had strengths and weaknesses when you tested them out.

Let's think about what those were.

Bill, yours was strong, but hard to use.

Webb, yours was easy to use, but super flimsy!

But that's okay, because finding a really good solution to a problem sometimes takes a few tries.

Even engineers have to test their designs,to see what's working and what's not working, and make them better.

Orville and Wilbur Wright were two brothers who made the first airplane to fly in the sky.

But before that, they tested many designs.

First they made gliders that could only glide through the air instead of flying.

Then, they added engines so those gliders could stay up in the sky, and they had an airplane!

Maybe we can take a little bit from each of your designs and make an even better high-up-button pusher?!

What if we used the tape from mine to tape small, lightweight pieces of wood together?

Yeah, then it would be strong, like mine, but lightweight, like Webb's design!

Great ideas, you two! Let's build a new design that combines a little bit from each and see how it does!

Ta-da!! Wow! Look at this great design that you worked together to make!

Yeah! It's still made of strong wood, just smaller pieces.

The small pieces of wood help make it lightweight, so anyone can lift it up!

Great work you two, using your engineering and teamwork skills to create an excellent solution to a problem!

Let's head to the observatory to test it out!

Yeah! What kinds of situations would you like to change using engineering?

What kinds of solutions would you design?

I hope you had fun learning with us today,

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Bye!