Bike Lanes Task
Design a safe bike lane.
In the Bike Lanes task, a city is encouraging its citizens to use bicycling as a form of transportation. Students need to apply the engineering design process to come up with a route design for a safe bike lane. Similar to what engineers face when tackling a problem, students need to produce a design that meets specific requirements while accounting for trade-offs between options including cost and safety.
76%
of students were able to identify the requirements for a design.
45%
of students successfully carried out a design using trade-offs to choose between alternative solutions.
11%
of students were able to communicate a design rationale that clearly explained the role of trade-offs in their design decision.
Explore task details by selecting a step below
Step 1
Learning About Design Criteria
Determine how lane width and speed limit affect road safety.
Step 2
Explaining the Design Criteria
Explain trade-offs among design criteria.
Step 3
Planning for a Safer Bike Route
Identify route modifications based on design criteria.
Step 4
Redesigning the Route
Propose a design based on criteria and constraints.
Step 5
Providing a Design Rationale
Explain trade-offs among criteria.
A Closer Look: How Students Solved a Design Problem by Evaluating Trade-Offs Between Alternative Solutions
Five percent of students could identify relevant design changes, account for design trade-offs, and explain a design decision as being a compromise between trade-offs.
Most students understood the requirements for a final design but were less able to carry out a design process and explain a design rationale involving trade-offs between solutions.