Name:_________________________________________Date:_____________________ 

Teacher:___________________________________________Score:________________ 

Size up the System 


Directions: After reading the following 4 scenarios, please identify the 
individual parts of each system (Inputs, Processes, Outputs, & Feedback) 
and write them in the appropriate blanks provided. 

Scenario #1: A company in Castledale, Utah buys cocoa beans from Columbia and sugar 
from Hawaii to make chocolate candy bars. They make the bars in a manufacturing plant 
and ship them to stores all across the United States. People love them so much and have 
bought enough candy bars that soon the company will start selling in Canada and 
Mexico, too. 

Identify the: 

Input(s)__________________________________________________ 

Process(es)_______________________________________________ 

Output(s)________________________________________________ 

Feedback________________________________________________ 

Scenario #2: ABC Video Games has just created a new simulation where a player can 
turn into a prehistoric dinosaur of their choice. ABC produces the game with the cheapest 
electronic circuits and plastic case they could find. They program the electronic circuits 
and place the circuits inside the plastic case. Then the games are packaged in a small 
paper box. The packaged video games are shipped to only a few stores, and customers 
find that after they buy the video games, many of them do not work and the plastic case 
splits apart from not being glued together very well. 

(Continued on other side...) 


Identify the: 

Input(s)___________________________________________________________ 
Process(es)________________________________________________________ 
Output(s)__________________________________________________________ 
Feedback__________________________________________________________ 

Scenario #3: Mommy Tilfiger makes the world’s classiest clothes. They buy their 
materials from the finest textile manufacturers and then cut and sew the fabrics to precise 
sizes. They have a quality control program to avoid having defective clothes from ever 
leaving their manufacturing plant. The clothes that do get to the stores sell remarkably 
well, even though they cost much more than clothes made much like the Tilfiger brand. 

Identify the: 
Input(s)___________________________________________________________ 
Process(es)________________________________________________________ 
Output(s)__________________________________________________________ 
Feedback__________________________________________________________ 

Scenario #4: Chevroford Motor Company has developed an electric car that converts the 
sun’s radiant energy into electricity through photovoltaic (foto-vol-TAY-ic) cells. The 
electricity then turns an electric motor that is connected to the car’s gearbox. The gearbox 
is connected to the wheels that get the whole car moving. There is an on-board computer 
that tells the driver how much energy is being used and how fast the car is going. 

Identify the: 
Input(s)___________________________________________________________ 
Process(es)________________________________________________________ 
Output(s)__________________________________________________________ 
Feedback__________________________________________________________