A project suitable for use as a first and last assignment given in an
introductory experimental design course is outlined, and its implement
ation discussed. Phase 1 of the project is designed to be given at the
beginning of a first course in experimental design and involves desig
ning an experiment within instructor-specified parameters based initia
lly on intuition and common sense. Phase 2, at the conclusion of the c
ourse, represents the final assignment of the course and encourages th
e student to critique their first design, suggest a ''new and improved
'' design based on their newly acquired knowledge, and finally conduct
an analysis of computer generated data (here using MINITAB, although
choice of package is flexible) from an actual run of their experiment.