Conveyor Engineering

Student Worksheet:

 Engineering Teamwork and Planning
You are part of a team of engineers given the challenge of developing your own conveyor belt out of a range of materials.  You will need to convey candy along your belt which has to include a 90 degree turn.  You can use any materials you like that are provided to you….and can share or trade materials with other student teams.  , There are a few rules:  1. Candy cannot be glued or affixed to the belt surface, 2. Candy cannot fall off.

 Research Phase
Read the materials provided to you by your teacher. If you have access to the internet, explore examples of conveyor systems and consider how groceries are moved along to the cashier in a market or grocery store. 

 Planning and Design Phase
Draw a diagram of your planned conveyor belt on the back of this page and make a list and quantity of all the materials you think you will need in the box below.  You'll need to consider how you will make the conveyor belt move -- you can use your hands to move rollers, gears, or you could use a motor -- just don't touch the cup!  

Materials you will need:

	

Conveyor Engineering

Student Worksheet:

 Presentation Phase
Present your plan and drawing to the class, and consider the plans of other teams.  You may wish to fine tune your own design.

 Build it!  …and Redesign if you need to!
Next build your conveyor belt and test it.  You may share unused building materials with other teams, and trade materials too.  Be sure to watch what other teams are doing and consider the aspects of different designs that might be an improvement on your team's plan.

 Test it!
Next, the class will test their conveyor belt systems.  Be sure to watch all the tests so you can see the advantages or disadvantages of other systems.

 Reflection 
Complete the reflection questions below:

1. How similar was your original design to the actual conveyor your team built?

2. If you found you needed to make changes during the construction phase, describe why
your team decided to make revisions.

3. Which conveyor system that another team engineered was the most interesting to you?  Why?

4.  Do you think that this activity was more rewarding to do as a team, or would you have preferred to work alone on it? Why?  

5. If you could have used one additional material (tape, glue, wood sticks, foil -- as examples) which would you choose and why?