Sort Materials Into Two Piles

Each student will first make a paper door using cardstock, scissors, and a post-it note. Then, students will design a lock for their door using a magnet, paperclip, paper fastener, stickers, and index cards. You may want to sort your materials into two piles for easier distribution.

Be Prepared for Some Troubleshooting

In this activity, students are asked to create something new -- an essential part of the engineering process, but one that may confuse or frustrate them. Below are some of the more common difficulties we found during our own testing, and the solutions we came up with.

• Brads won’t puncture paper: Students may have trouble puncturing the paper with the brad. If this happens, use a sharp pencil to poke a small hole in the paper, then insert the brad.

• Items won’t turn on the brad: The hole probably isn’t big enough. Twist the brad in a full circle a few times to enlarge the hole.

• The magnet doesn’t make the lock move: Every lock will work differently, but it’s typically friction that causes this problem. If a piece of your lock is supposed to move, be sure it can move easily. If it’s attached too tightly, your magnet may not be able to move it.

• Pieces keep getting stuck against one another:

  • If your lock keeps getting stuck, try rounding the edges of the moving parts.
  • If the lock is getting stuck because a piece of paper is bending the wrong way, you can make the paper stiffer by folding it and adding stickers or paper clips to hold it together.

• Walls keep falling down: If you need help getting your wall to stay up, clip the 1-inch fold on the back to a clipboard, or slide it under the edge of a heavy book.