1. Food Preservation Challenge The Science Behind Food Preservation Unit

2. Challenge: To design a solar food dehydrator using the materials provided by your teacher and according to the following: Constraint: Volume of dehydrator needs to be: 9216 inches cubed Requirements: Must have an angled surface to collect sunlight Must have a way for air to flow Must have a place to put food on to dry Must have a hatch to put the food through

3. Learning Goals You will collect, analyze, and interpret data and you will be able to use this data to make design decisions, specifically for designing a mobile launcher platform. You will be able to compose detailed sketches of possible designs that effectively communicate the design’s intent and use these sketches to make prototypes and the final product. You will be able to evaluate your preliminary design, and you will be able to design and execute an evaluation plan to evaluate your prototype models. You will know how to predict problems in final production by creating prototype models of your designs. You will know how a team works together in construction, and you will be able to construct your design and evaluate it for the design constraints.

4. Identify and Define the problem Restate the purpose of the design challenge. What does the prototype have to do to be successful?

5. Gather Information What knowledge is necessary to complete this challenge?

6. Identify Alternatives Considerations: Prepare three sketches of possible solar food dehydrator designs that meet the constraints. Include rough dimensions. Include notes on construction ideas. Include a list of building materials you will need

7. Select the Best Solution Design a plan for evaluating the prototype (procedure) Evaluate each design in terms of meeting all the requirements and constraints as well as the time/difficulty to implement Explain why you choose the model you did Give 3 reasons. Give several complete sentences that gives the teacher enough information to understand your choice. Use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation

8. Select the Best Solution Design tests to ensure your design is valid, reliable, and possible. Determine how you will record your findings.

9. Implement Solution Build a prototype (a working model) of selected design Execute the designed tests and record the results

10. Evaluate Solutions After testing: Evaluate your prototype according to the design constraints, test results and evaluation plan you created. Update all sketches and drawings to show the results of the prototype testing.

11. Refine Modify prototype if needed or build a new prototype and re-test. Continue refining until the design is ready for the challenge. Be sure to document any changes

12. Complete Challenge

13. Communicate Solution Present your solar food dehydrator to the class. Presentation must include: A display which explains their findings and explains the choices they made using the evaluation plan created earlier in unit and the challenges they faced. The results of scorecard. The display can be a poster, PowerPoint, Prezi or medium of choice approved by teacher.