(http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/062/0/e/fighterr_fish_by_beth_amelia-d3atwkl.png)
Welcome to Just Keep Swimming! This project is designed as an educational module for sophomore students, with the intention of giving them a project that teaches them how to properly understand, use and apply the engineering design process. Just Keep Swimming challenges the students to design a self-maintaining fish tank accompanied by a back-up filter, all powered by an alternative form of energy. The students will be expected to deliver a fish tank that cleans itself (using some form of biology), and to design and produce a self-feeder for the tank. Additionally, the students need to design a filter system for the tank that will turn on only when the self-cleaning aspect is no longer doing its job. For example, if the students choose to use hydroponic plants as their cleaning method, the fish tank will still reach a point where manual cleaning will eventually be required. It's the students' job to determine what changes occur in the tank that indicate that this cleaning is necessary, and to design a filter that recognizes those changes and turns on due to that alteration. Any and all mechanical aspects, the feeder, the filter and any other component students want to add, must be powered by some form of alternative energy (solar, hyrdopower etc.)
We personally plan to design and prototype the self-feeding aspect of the project. Our deliverable will be both the feeder and a detailed lab manual outlining and explaining those three weeks of the ten-week term the students would have for the entire project. Our group has chosen to produce our deliverable based specifically on beta fish and will do the necessary research accordingly. Additionally, we plan to include in our lab manual different sources and contacts that can be used so the students have options regarding where to find the necessary information for their specific fish. By the end of the project we will have designed and created the self-feeding aspect of our self-maintaining fish tank, and additionally we will have written out a detailed lab manual for that section of the project outlining the steps students should follow in order for them to produce a successful feeder.