Student Activity:

Concept: The concept of "control systems" is fundamental to applied research. Scientific experiments are designed to attain specific objectives or outcomes. The ability to not only determine what your outcome is, but how you got there, is important in attaining total understanding of the process.

Directions:

1. Organize student groups for the purpose of discussing the concept of "control systems" in the situations listed below.
2. The students should be able to define the process in terms of inputs (i.e. raw materials), the process capable of causing change, and the end results (outputs).
3. Consider whether QA (quality assurance) measures can be used without interfering with the process being monitored, i.e. devise an analogy to "reporter genes".
4. Illustrative situations (more may be liberally added or substituted): a fast food store selling cooked hamburgers; a school educating children; a farmer breeding prize cattle.