Think Like an Engineer

This week, we focused on what engineering is really about: problem-solving and perspective.

We played a game called “Think Like an Engineer.” Each slide showed a famous project and the question behind it. Some examples include:
The Burj Khalifa: How do you stop the world’s tallest tower from swaying enough to make people dizzy?

The Mars Rover Perseverance: How do you land a one-ton robot on Mars with no pilot and a 14-minute signal delay?

The James Webb Space Telescope: How do you keep a telescope colder than –230°C while it faces the Sun?

We discussed possible solutions together and brainstormed in an open discussion style, filling the whiteboard with ideas and guesses before revealing how engineers actually solved each problem.

We discovered that for the Burj Khalifa, engineers used a spiraling, tapered design that breaks up wind patterns and keeps the building stable. Its shape forces wind to change direction as it rises, preventing strong gusts from syncing up and causing motion. For the Mars Rover Perseverance, they created a system called the Sky Crane, where a rocket-powered platform lowers the rover on cables. It lands completely autonomously, using sensors and cameras to choose a safe spot without human control. For the James Webb Space Telescope, engineers built a five-layer sunshield made of thin reflective film that blocks heat from the Sun, while its orbit keeps it permanently in Earth’s shadow. This allows it to stay cold enough to detect faint infrared light from distant galaxies. Overall, we enjoyed working collaboratively and discovering all the ways in which engineering solves problems in inventive ways. I think activities like these show us how diverse and interdisciplinary engineering is. And that it’s virtually everywhere…