It is well documented that there is a disproportionate number of males pursuing engineering and technology careers when compared to their female counterparts (Milgram, 2011). Some recent articles have proposed methods to recruit more females into technology education (Milgram, 2011; Zywno, Gilbride, Hiscodes, Waalen, and Kennedy, 1999). However, very little has been written about the impact on the classroom culture, especially in terms of how this can impact the diversity of student design teams. In this article, the authors will present a new approach to teaching design through the study of a real-world local or global problem that can be improved through engineering design. Through these real-world engineering problems, students are given opportunities to explore the cultural, social, political, and environmental aspects embedded within the problem. Personal accounts from a student perspective of this new learning approach to engineering design will be provided to show how team members have been affected. (Contains 1 table.)