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Is That Design Worth It? is a free printable Grade 3 science worksheet on judging the merit of a design that reduces a weather hazard, aligned to Common Core standard 3-ESS3-1. It prints 7 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 11 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Is That Design Worth It?

3-ESS3-1

NameDate

Read the survey, then answer.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

After the Storm

A survey of the school grounds the morning after a gale, with the weather record for that week. THE WEEK AND THE DAMAGE Mon-Thu: light wind, no damage Friday: gale, gusts to 70 mph Damage: 3 fence panels down, 1 tree branch broken, bins across the yard The bins in the sheltered corner did not move. The fence on the sheltered side did not fall.

  1. 1. What would shelter round the bin area probably do?
  2. 2. Why did the sheltered fence stay up?
2.What makes a hazard design worth its cost?
  • A.It looks impressive
  • B.It is quick to make
  • C.It reduces damage by more than it costs to build
3.Lightning rods on a school. What hazard do they reduce?
  • A.Flooding
  • B.Damage and fire from a lightning strike
  • C.Strong wind
4.Why can no design remove a weather hazard completely?
  • A.Designs are always poor
  • B.Weather can always be more severe than a design was built for
  • C.Weather never repeats
5.A design works in a light gale but not a severe one. What should you say?
  • A.It reduces some damage but not all, and say at what strength it fails
  • B.It does not work
  • C.It works perfectly
6.A flood barrier protects one street and floods the next. How do you judge it?
  • A.Count the harm it moves as well as the harm it stops
  • B.Only count the street it saved
  • C.Ignore the second street
7.What should a claim about a design's merit include?
  • A.Only what it cost
  • B.Only how it looks
  • C.Evidence of what it reduced, and what it cost

LessonPrint · 3-ESS3-1 · Set 11 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Is That Design Worth It?

Set 11. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Stop the bins blowing across the yard in the next gale. 2. It was out of the gale, so less wind pushed on it.
  2. 2.It reduces damage by more than it costs to build
  3. 3.Damage and fire from a lightning strike
  4. 4.Weather can always be more severe than a design was built for
  5. 5.It reduces some damage but not all, and say at what strength it fails
  6. 6.Count the harm it moves as well as the harm it stops
  7. 7.Evidence of what it reduced, and what it cost

More practice for 3-ESS3-1

Judge a design meant to reduce the damage from a weather hazard.

Teaching this next? Is That Design Worth It? is the 55-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 3-ESS3-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.