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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 15 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. Why did the sheltered fence stay up?
  2. 2. What would shelter round the bin area probably do?
2.Lightning rods on a school. What hazard do they reduce?
  • A.Flooding
  • B.Damage and fire from a lightning strike
  • C.Strong wind
3.Which evidence would best judge a windbreak?
  • A.How tall it is
  • B.Damage before and after it was built, in similar gales
  • C.Its colour
4.Why can no design remove a weather hazard completely?
  • A.Weather never repeats
  • B.Designs are always poor
  • C.Weather can always be more severe than a design was built for
5.What makes a hazard design worth its cost?
  • A.It reduces damage by more than it costs to build
  • B.It is quick to make
  • C.It looks impressive
6.What should a claim about a design's merit include?
  • A.Evidence of what it reduced, and what it cost
  • B.Only what it cost
  • C.Only how it looks
7.A flood barrier protects one street and floods the next. How do you judge it?
  • A.Ignore the second street
  • B.Count the harm it moves as well as the harm it stops
  • C.Only count the street it saved

LessonPrint · 3-ESS3-1 · Set 15 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Is That Design Worth It?

Set 15. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. It was out of the gale, so less wind pushed on it. 2. Stop the bins blowing across the yard in the next gale.
  2. 2.Damage and fire from a lightning strike
  3. 3.Damage before and after it was built, in similar gales
  4. 4.Weather can always be more severe than a design was built for
  5. 5.It reduces damage by more than it costs to build
  6. 6.Evidence of what it reduced, and what it cost
  7. 7.Count the harm it moves as well as the harm it stops

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.