The Family and Consumer Science (FCS) Department at Charles F. Patton Middle School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, planted a garden to provide students with an organic horticulture experience. Although the garden provided the FCS Department space to grow plants, Patton Middle School FCS teachers Betsy Ballard and Kim Hislert believed it wasn't…

Using two cardboard boxes, a light bulb socket, light bulbs of varying wattage, a thermometer, and some insulation, students can learn some interesting lessons about how heat loss occurs in homes. This article describes practical experiments that work well on units related to energy, sustainable energy, renewables, engineering, and construction.…

This article describes an after-school program at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf (HMS), the oldest public day school for deaf students in the United States, where almost half of the student body imagined and created bridge and robotic machines. The Deaf Robotics Engineering and Math Team, or the DREAM Team club, included HMS students in…

This design/problem-solving activity challenges students to design a replacement bridge for one that has been designated as either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The Aycock MS Technology/STEM Magnet Program Virtual Bridge Design Challenge is an authentic introduction to the engineering design process. It is a socially relevant…

Like many technology teachers, the author, a technology education teacher at Arthur Hill High School in Saginaw, Michigan, tries to stretch his budget by "milking" each student activity for maximum benefit. In the technology department, they use balsa wood towers to teach the basics of structural engineering. To get the most from their materials,…

Bridge construction is a popular classroom activity. However, the basic principles of tension, compression, and counterbalance are not always clearly represented and defined. The common materials used to construct model bridges, such as straws, toothpicks, Legos[TM], and building blocks, are often too flexible or stationary to demonstrate the…

This book helps children develop the capability and confidence to design, construct, and evaluate working models. Projects in this book are suitable for students in grades K-4, but may be adapted for older students. Step-by-step explanations for each project are meant as guidelines and completion of the project is not limited to a single correct…

This document contains vocational education program course standards (curriculum frameworks and student performance standards) for exploratory courses, practical arts courses, and job preparatory programs offered at the secondary and postsecondary level as part of the technology education component of Florida's comprehensive vocational education…

This document contains vocational education program course standards for exploratory courses, practical arts courses, and job preparatory programs offered at the secondary and postsecondary level as part of the industrial education component in Florida. Curriculum frameworks are provided for 144 programs/clusters; representative topics are as…