Proposal for Turtle Feeder
Introduction: Yertle needs a feeder, and it takes a long time to feed him by hand. In addition to that, the food gets the tank dirty. Yertle is very used to being fed with tweezers. on weekends, when we are away, Yertle needs to be fed. We have been asked by the upper graders to design a turtle feeder that meets the following criteria: the turtle feeder must keep the tank clean, be safe for Yertle, and be self-serve. It is recommended that it be durable, cheap, and hold a week's worth of food.
My design: My design is a container with a hole that allows bits of food to fall into a straw that has a "bite valve" at the end. Turtles bite down on the valve to get food. On the top there's a lid that can rotate all the way down to the side left of it. It connects with two "L-shaped" brackets that hold the container and get nailed into the wall. The straw IS replaceable. My design can hold up to 100 pellets.
Criterion 1: Self-serve
My design meets criterion one because of the amount of pellets it can store at one time. Also your turtle can just bite down on the "bite valve."
Criterion 2: Safe
My design meets criterion two because all the turtle does it bite down on the "bite valve." The bite valve is made of turtle-friendly material.
Criterion 3: Clean Tank
My design meets criterion three because it's not even in the tank!
Teacher Note: We're working hard to meet the engineering standards part of the New Generation Science Standards. Wow, can these kids design. Today they continued to write their proposal, added labels to their diagram, and used play-doh to build their prototype.
