At a minimum level, toothpicks, glue, paper and drawing tools are all that you need. If you can find enough building toys such as Lego, K'NEX, Erector or Construx, you will be able to expand and enrich this activity. Of utmost importance to the refinery operations is the accurate maintenance of critical control drawings. The maintenance of accurate drawings is actually a complex process because as changes are made by engineers to refinery processes, all drawings must be updated so that the drawing continues to match the actual refinery. Even small, seemingly minor changes must be included.
Students design a structure or device that they can actually build.
Use available resources at your school to make assignments. If your students are mathematically adept, insist that the designs be to scale. An even better situation would be if your school has a drafting program and a computer lab available to produce actual computer assisted designs. The design must be very detailed and specific. Do not let students assume anything.