In a unique school-university partnership, methods students collaborated with fifth graders to use the engineering design process to build their problem-solving skills. By placing the problem in the context of a client having particular needs, the problem took on a real-world appeal that students found intriguing and inviting. In this article, the authors describe their interactive unit on problem solving through packaging engineering. Although their collaborative work centered on a unique school-university partnership, equally productive and effective partnerships could occur within and across elementary school science classrooms. Either way, both groups of students will benefit greatly from the interactions associated with this approach. Students were encouraged to identify a situation; generate a plan to meet their goals; design, construct, and test their ideas or possible solutions; and improve on and optimize their designs. The authors believe these skills complement the scientific inquiry skills that students use every day in the science classroom. (Contains 3 figures and 3 online resources.)