Requirements
1. Select a manufactured item in your home (such as a toy
or an appliance) and, under adult supervision and with the
approval of your counselor, investigate how and why it
works as it does. Find out what sort of engineering activities
were needed to create it. Discuss with your counselor what
you learned and how you got the information.
2. Select an engineering achievement that has had a major
impact on society. Using resources such as the Internet
(with your parent’s permission), books, and magazines,
find out about the engineers who made this engineering
feat possible, the special obstacles they had to overcome,
and how this achievement has influenced the world today.
Tell your counselor what you learned.
3. Explain the work of six types of engineers. Pick two of the
six and explain how their work is related.
4. Visit with an engineer (who may be your counselor or
parent) and do the following:
a. Discuss the work this engineer does and the tools the
engineer uses.
b. Discuss with the engineer a current project and the
engineer’s particular role in it.
c. Find out how the engineer’s work is done and how
results are achieved.
d. Ask to see the reports that the engineer writes concerning
the project.
e. Discuss with your counselor what you learned about
engineering from this visit.
5. Do ONE of the following:
a. Use the systems engineering approach to make step-by-step
plans for your next campout. List alternative ideas for
such items as program schedule, campsites, transportation,
and costs. Tell why you made the choices you did and
what improvements were made.
b. Make an original design for a piece of patrol equipment.
Use the systems engineering approach to help you decide
how it should work and look. Draw plans for it. Show
the plans to your counselor, explain why you designed it
the way you did, and explain how you would make it.
6. Do TWO of the following:
a. Transforming motion. Using common materials or a construction
set, make a simple model that will demonstrate
motion. Explain how the model uses basic mechanical
elements like levers and inclined planes to demonstrate
motion. Describe an example where this mechanism is
used in a real product.
b. Using electricity. Make a list of 10 electrical appliances
in your home. Find out approximately how much electricity
each uses in one month. Learn how to find out
the amount and cost of electricity used in your home
during periods of light and heavy use. List five ways
to conserve electricity.
c. Understanding electronics. Using an electronic device
such as a mobile telephone or portable digital media
player, find out how sound travels from one location
to another. Explain how the device was designed for
ease of use, function, and durability.
d. Using materials. Do experiments
to show the differences in
strength and heat conductivity
in wood, metal, and
plastic. Discuss with your
counselor what you
have learned.
e. Converting energy. Do an experiment to show how
mechanical, heat, chemical, solar, and/or electrical
energy may be converted from one or more types of
energy to another. Explain your results. Describe to your
counselor what energy is and how energy is converted
and used in your surroundings.
f. Moving people. Find out the
different ways people in your
community get to work.
Make a study of traffic flow
(number of vehicles and
relative speed) in both heavy
and light traffic periods.
Discuss with your counselor
what might be improved to
make it easier for people in
your community to get where
they need to go.
g. Building an engineering
project. Enter a project in a
science or engineering fair or similar competition.
(This requirement may be met by participation on an
engineering competition project team.) Discuss with
your counselor what your project demonstrates, the
kinds of questions visitors to the fair asked, and how
well you were able to answer their questions.
7. Explain what it means to be a registered Professional
Engineer (P.E.). Name the types of engineering work for
which registration is most important.
8. Study the Engineer’s Code of Ethics. Explain how it is like
the Scout Oath and Scout Law.
9. Find out about three career opportunities in engineering.
Pick one and research the education, training, and
experience required for this profession. Discuss this with
your counselor, and explain why this profession might
interest you.
Resources:
Scouting.org Merit Badges - Requirements
boyscouttrail.com Merit Badges