Skip to content
LessonPrint

Judging Between Designs is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 science worksheet on comparing multiple solutions against criteria and constraints, aligned to Common Core standard 3-5-ETS1-2. It prints 8 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 23 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

Next setLesson plan

One paper per pupil

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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

Judging Between Designs

3-5-ETS1-2

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

1.What makes a comparison honest?
  • A.Scoring your own last
  • B.Using more criteria
  • C.The same evidence and the same standard applied to every design
2.Three filters are tested. What should the comparison be based on?
  • A.Which looks cleanest
  • B.Measured performance against each criterion, with constraint failures removed
  • C.Which took longest to build
3.Two designs score identically. What is a defensible tie-break?
  • A.Whichever was built first
  • B.A criterion agreed in advance, such as cost or ease of repair
  • C.The teacher decides silently
4.Two groups score the same design differently. What should happen?
  • A.They agree what the criterion means and rescore
  • B.Keep both scores
  • C.Average the scores quietly
5.Why should solutions be generated before any is evaluated?
  • A.It fills time
  • B.Evaluating early narrows the field before the best idea appears
  • C.It is traditional
6.One design meets every criterion but costs twice the budget. What follows?
  • A.It wins on merit
  • B.The budget is ignored
  • C.It is ruled out, unless the budget itself is renegotiated openly
7.A design fails one criterion badly. What is worth recording?
  • A.Which criterion and by how much, in case the design is revised
  • B.Nothing
  • C.Only that it failed
8.Why record why a rejected design failed?
  • A.To justify the rejection
  • B.Part of it may solve a later problem
  • C.It is not worth recording

LessonPrint · 3-5-ETS1-2 · Set 23 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Judging Between Designs

Set 23. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.The same evidence and the same standard applied to every design
  2. 2.Measured performance against each criterion, with constraint failures removed
  3. 3.A criterion agreed in advance, such as cost or ease of repair
  4. 4.They agree what the criterion means and rescore
  5. 5.Evaluating early narrows the field before the best idea appears
  6. 6.It is ruled out, unless the budget itself is renegotiated openly
  7. 7.Which criterion and by how much, in case the design is revised
  8. 8.Part of it may solve a later problem

More practice for 3-5-ETS1-2

Compare several possible solutions against the criteria and the constraints.

Teaching this next? Judging Between Designs is the 60-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 to Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 3-5-ETS1-2 of the Next Generation Science Standards.