How Can We Figure Out a Problem?

Your teacher says, "We need to fix this! But first, let's look closely at the problem." What would you do?

• What do you notice about the water bottle?
• What would you want to look at before trying to fix it?

When something is not working right, we call it a problem. Before we can fix a problem, we need to learn about it. We look closely. We ask questions. We gather information (that means facts and clues about the problem).

Engineers are people who design things and solve problems. But they don't just start building right away! First, they observe (that means look carefully and notice things). Then they collect information about what is wrong.

• Look closely. Walk up to the cage and look at the water bottle. Do you see a crack? Is the bottle hanging the right way? Is the top on tight?
• Use your senses. Can you hear dripping? Can you feel if the floor is wet? How much water is in the puddle?
• Ask questions. Ask your classmates: "When did you first see the water?" "Was the bottle full this morning?" Write down what people say.
• Draw what you see. Make a picture of the water bottle. Show where the water is coming from. Label the parts. This is how engineers keep track of information!

When you make an observation chart like this one, you are thinking like an engineer! You are collecting all the clues you need before you try to fix the problem.

After we looked closely, here is what we found out about the water bottle problem:

We observed that the bottle has a small crack on the side. Water drips out through the crack slowly. The puddle is small, so it probably started not too long ago. The hamster still has a little water left, but not much!

We gathered information from our classmates. One friend said the bottle was full this morning. Another friend said they bumped the cage at lunchtime. Now we have a clue about what caused the crack!

See how much we learned? All those observations and information help us understand the problem before we try to fix it. Now we know we need to fix or replace the bottle — and we should be more careful not to bump the cage!

Here is something really cool. When something causes a problem, we can often find clues by looking carefully. This is called cause and effect. Something happens (the cause), and then something else happens because of it (the effect).

Let's look at some examples:

Do you see the pattern? Every effect has a cause. When we observe carefully and gather information, we can figure out what caused the problem. This helps us fix it the right way!

Real engineers and scientists observe problems and gather information every day. Here are some examples:

You can be like an engineer too! Here is a simple design challenge:

• Observe the problem. Look at it closely. What do you see?
• Ask questions. Ask someone about it. When did it start?
• Draw it. Make a picture of the problem. Label what you notice.

You just did the first step of the engineering design process! Great job!

• Observe — To look at something very carefully using your senses (eyes, ears, nose, hands).
• Problem — Something that is not working the way it should and needs to be fixed.
• Information — Facts and clues that you collect to help you understand something.
• Cause — The thing that makes something else happen.
• Effect — What happens because of a cause.