Engineering is Elementary - Mariana Becomes a Butterfly

1. Mariana
Becomes a
Butterfly
Brooke Stephens

2. Overview
• The story follows Mariana, a young girl living in the
Dominican Republic, who has a “plant problem.”
• Mariana has her own garden in which she has many plants.
• Her newest plant, the ohelo berry plant brought to her by a
friend from Hawaii, is not growing berries anymore.
• With the help of her aunt Letitia or “Tía Leti,” an
agricultural engineer at a university, Mariana thinks through
and solves her “plant problem” by creating her own hand
pollinator.

3. Ask
• Asking a question is the first step in the engineering design
process.
• Mariana must first ask “What is the problem?”
• When she notices that her ohelo plant isn’t growing berries
like it should, she asks her Papá if he thinks her plant is
homesick or why it is not producing berries anymore.
• After observing her garden for a bit, she notices that
butterflies and bees visit and pollinate all of her plants
except the ohelo berry plant.
• She asks her aunt why the insects don’t visit the ohelo
plant.

4. Imagine
• The second step in the engineering design process is to imagine.
• Once Mariana discovers the problem and asks the question “why?” she must then
brainstorm ideas of how to solve her problem and answer her question.
• Upon discovering that there are no natural pollinators in the Dominican Republic
for her ohelo plant, she comes up with the idea to bring an insect from Hawaii to
the Dominican Republic that would be able to pollinate her plant.
• However, bringing in a new insect could create an unbalance in the environment,
much like the papaya mealybugs.
• Mariana rejects the idea of bringing in a new bug, and brainstorms more.
• With the help of her Tía Leti she comes up with the idea to design and create her
own hand pollinator so that she can pollinate her ohelo plant.

5. Plan
• The third step of the engineering design
process is to plan.
• Mariana must think of and make a list of
materials that she will need to make a hand
pollinator that will fit her ohelo plants size and
shape.
• Another part of planning is sketching a
diagram or a picture of what is being created.

6. Create
• The fourth step in the engineering design
process is to create.
• Mariana used the materials she gathered to
create a hand pollinator that would fit to her
ohelo plant’s size and shape.

7. Improve
• The fifth and final step in the engineering
design process is to improve.
• “Tis a lesson you should heed: try, try again. If
at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” –
William Edward Hickson
• Mariana had to make more than one model of
her hand pollinator until she made on that was
the right size and shape for her ohelo plant.

8. Materials
• Suggested:
• Baking soda
• Construction paper
• Tape
• Aluminum foil
• Pipe cleaner
• Pom-poms
• Craft stick (popsicle
stick)
• String
• Test tube
• Used:
• Powdered sugar
• Construction paper
• Tape
• Colored feathers
• Pipe cleaner
• Pom-pom
• Gauze pad
• Hot glue
• Mini popsicle sticks

9. Try It!
• Design a hand pollinator like Mariana and test
it out on a flower (real or fake).
Method A: cut out a flower shape from dark
construction paper and cover the center with a
thin coat of baking soda to represent pollen on
a flat flower, such as a poppy.
• Method B: fill the bottom of a test tube with
baking soda to represent pollen in a tube-
shaped flower such as a Dutchman’s Pipe.

10. Pictures