This article describes a reverse engineering activity that gives students hands-on, minds-on experience with measuring tools, machine parts, and CAD. The author developed this activity to give students an abundance of practical experience with measuring tools. Equally important, it provides a good interface between the virtual world of CAD 3D…

There is a battlefield where no quarter is given, no mercy shown, but not a single drop of blood is spilled. It is an arena that witnesses the bringing together of high-tech design and manufacture with the outpouring of brute force, under the remotely accessed command of some of today's brightest students. This is the world of battling robots, or…

It would be extremely satisfying for career and technical educators to have plenty of students sign up for their programs. In addition, it would be a more satisfying for them if they can make money out of their programs. In this article, the author provides ideas on how teachers can get the industry involved in their programs.

Drafters must be detail-oriented people. The objects they draw are interpreted and then built with the extreme precision required by today's manufacturers. Now that computer-aided drafting (CAD) has taken over the drafting profession, anything less than exact precision is unacceptable. In her drafting classes, the author expects her students to…