Planet Andoddin is an engineering design-based STEM curricular unit. The unit aims to facilitate the learning of major science and mathematical concepts and skills within the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core State Standards (CCSS) respectively. The unit includes teacher guides, class activities with solutions, and assessment guidelines. 

Grade Level: 4-5

Approximate Time Needed to Complete Unit: Eleven-thirteen 50-minute class periods

Unit Summary: Students are introduced to their client, Micah Bergmann of New World Resource Management, a corporation that has discovered resources on an exoplanet, Andoddin. Students are tasked with a two-part engineering design challenge. First, they must analyze data from four different resource extraction sites on the exoplanet in order to choose where to extract trees, iron ore, and gravel. Second, they design tools to extract those resources. Before designing solutions, students learn about renewable and nonrenewable resources and the environmental impact of extracting resources. They then choose an extraction site and plan, try (build), test, and decide about (evaluate) a resource extraction tool twice, once as an initial design and once in redesign. Finally, student teams write letters and/or create posters for their client, describing their solutions and justifying them with evidence.

List of Lessons:

• Lesson 1: Define the Engineering Problem
  • Objectives: (1) • describe important features of an engineering design process; (2) Define an engineering problem from the perspective of stakeholders; (3) Generate and then refine a description of the problem based on new information; (4) Engage in problem scoping (i.e., define the problem and needs, and then identify the knowledge, criteria, and constraints required for a desirable solution).
• Lesson 2: Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources
  • Objectives: (1) define natural resources; (2) Describe the difference between renewable and nonrenewable natural resources; (3) Identify whether natural resources are renewable or nonrenewable.
• Lesson 3: Resource Extraction: Cookie Mining 
  • Objectives: (1) Describe mining as the process of extracting resources from the ground; (2) Explain environmental impact and how mining decisions affect the environment; (3) Add, subtract, and multiply costs with decimals to calculate profit.
• Lesson 4: Site Selection & Tool Design Idea Generation
  • Objectives: (1) Use cross-sectional maps to identify where their assigned resource is located at each site; (2) Justify their decision about which site they will extract their resource from; (3) Use evidence from problem scoping to generate multiple initial ideas for a design solution.; (3) Add and multiply decimals to calculate the cost of the design.
• Lesson 5: Tool Design Selection & Evidence-Based Reasoning
  • Objectives: (1) Systematically evaluate various solutions based on the problem to narrow to one design solution; (2) Justify why their proposed design solution is appropriate based on the application of core science/mathematics concepts, and information obtained in problem scoping; (3) add and multiply decimals to calculate the cost of the design, keeping the cost under $12.00.
• Lesson 6: Try a Solution
  • Objectives: (1) Implement a design and create a prototype resource extraction tool; (2) Add and multiply decimals to calculate the cost of the design, keeping the cost under $12.00.
• Lesson 7: Test a Solution
  • Objectives: (1) Test their resource extraction tool prototypes; (2) Convert improper fractions into mixed numbers to determine how many units of resource their tool prototype extracted; (3) Determine the total area affected by the environmental impact of resource extraction by counting unit squares of disrupted ground cover.
• Lesson 8: Decide about a Solution
  • Objectives: (1) Compare data about their design’s performance with the performance of their peers’ designs; (2) Complete a chart to analyze the performance of their resource extraction tool prototypes.
• Lesson 9: Redesign
  • Objectives: (1) Use evidence from problem scoping, core science/mathematics concepts, and initial design test analysis to plan an improved design; (2) Add and multiply decimals to calculate the cost of the improved design, keeping the cost under $12.00; (3) Implement the design and create an improved resource extraction tool prototype; (4) Test the performance of the improved solution; (5) Determine the total area affected by the environmental impact of resource extraction by counting unit squares of disrupted ground cover; (6) convert improper fractions into mixed numbers to determine how many units of resource their improved tool prototype extracted; (7) Compare data from their second design’s performance with the performance of their initial design; (8) Evaluate the alignment between their proposed solution and the problem.
• Lesson 10: Communicate to the Client
  • Objectives: (1) Evaluate the alignment between their proposed solution and the problem; (2) Communicate their design solution through the use of evidence-based reasoning; (3) Justify why their design solution is appropriate based on the application of core science/mathematics concepts, information obtained in problem scoping, and interpretation of acquired or gathered evidence.

Unit Standards:

• NGSS: 4-ESS3-1, MS-ESS3-1, 3-5-ETS1-1, 3-5-ETS1-2, 3-5-ETS1-3. 
• CCSS: 4.MD.A.2, 3.MD.C.6, 3.MC.C.7.D, 3.NF.A.3.B, 4.NF.B.3.B. 

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant NSF DRL-1238140. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Andrea Appel, Todd Marder, Emilie Siverling, Hillary E Merzdorf, Justin McFadden, Kerrie Douglas, Tamara J. Moore (2022), "Planet Andoddin: An EngrTEAMS Curricular Unit," https://nanohub.org/resources/36142.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. biology
2. elementary school
3. engineering education
4. EngrTEAMS
5. environment
6. has CCSS
7. has NGSS
8. K-12
9. non-renewable resources
10. precollege
11. reneawble resources
12. STEM
13. teaching and learning